Frozen Rose
by Sapphira T
Summary: When a friend needs help in a foriegn country, Kiley is going to have to journey there to help stop the problem. But there is a few problems. One, said country is freezing. Or, at least for a girl from Vegas. Two, people are suddenly after Kiley, and she doesn't realize what is happening. Add all that together, and more, and you get an order for trouble. Third Story for Black Rose!
1. Puppy Problems

A few days after graduation and the NCIS team left, I woke up in a panic. This time, it wasn't a nightmare about me killing Peter. It was about my friends. All of them. They had been killed. Sniper bullets through their foreheads.

I predictably couldn't sleep after that, so I got dressed quickly and crept out. I checked on Spencer briefly, then climbed out of the fire escape.

I walked around with my hands shoved in the leather jacket's pockets with no real destination in mind. I just wanted to get the image of their dead eyes staring at me out of my head.

Soon, I found myself next to my oak tree. There was a full moon tonight, and the light reflected throughout the lake. Thanks to the strong breeze, the waves moved with hypnotizing grace, throwing the moonlight every which way.

I climbed onto the tree and draped onto one of the thicker branches suspended over the lake. Then I pulled the leather bound notebook Gibbs had gotten me and a charcoal pencil out of my jacket. I made a quick rough sketch of the scene in front of me. Then I added details. As an afterthought, I drew a hoard of water lilies cascading over the waves, and wild iris on the bank.

I pulled out the colored pencils Tony had given me, and began to color in everything. When I was finished, I had another pretty picture depicting the lake. Though the picture itself was pretty, it did no justice to the gorgeous scene in front of me.

I sighed and flicked through the small book. In the month that I've had it, I've almost filled up the entire book with drawings. Only a quarter of the pages were left untouched. Some drawings were of the lake, some were of my friends, of Spencer, of my mother, of the NCIS team, and some of Nicholas.

I stopped at the page of Nicholas. Because I had done the drawing from memory, it looked similar to him, but it wasn't him.

I sighed and put the book and the pencils back into my pocket. After making sure they were secure, I put my laid down and put my head on my folded arms. Having done this numerous times before and not really worrying about falling, I closed my eyes. In seconds, I was asleep; lulled by the gentle sound of the waves.

Instead of seeing my dead friends, I saw fields of flowers, trees that reached to the sky and perfect for climbing, rivers and lakes perfect for swimming, and the smell of fresh air mixed with rain.

Criminal Minds

When I woke up again, it was to the sound of whining. Pitiful, broken whining that tugged at my heart.

I sat up, suddenly awake, and looked around.

The full mooning was beginning to dip beneath the waves, and, after snapping a quick picture, I leapt down from the tree.

The whining sounding again. It sounded like something young. A puppy probably.

I followed the sound until I came to a bush near the oak tree. I crouched and approached the quivering bush slowly and spoke, "Hello."

The quivering stopped, so did the whining. Growling replaced it.

I laughed and extended my hand towards the bush. "Easy. Easy there. I won't hurt you. Easy. Come on. Come out."

I felt something cold touch my fingers, and didn't move while the cold thing explored my hand curiously. I slowly drew my hand out of the bush, and the cold thing followed it until a puppy's head poked out of the bush.

I sat back on my heels and smiled at the puppy. It was mostly black, with a silver face. At least, I assume it was silver. It was too dirty to really tell. It had bright, icy blue eyes that regarded me warily.

I dipped my head and extended my hand again. "Easy there. I promise, I won't hurt you. Won't you come out?"

The sun was beginning to rise up, and with it warm morning air was intruding on the chill.

Slowly, the puppy began to step out of the bush. It was limping, and when its front legs appeared from the bush, I figured out why. A jagged wound stretched from the back of its neck, across its left shoulder, and down to its paw. It was bleeding sluggishly, and looked like it had been made by a knife.

I gasped softly and the dog's ear came up. It looked like a husky hybrid. Intelligent eyes stared up at me as it finished detangling itself from the bush.

I quickly took off my leather jacket, then the gray hoodie underneath. The cold air stung my bare arms, so I quickly shrugged the leather jacket back on.

I slowly reached for the puppy and brushed its uninjured side lightly. He pushed into my touch and whined pitifully at me, blue eyes wide and pleading. I softened and gently wrapped my hoodie around his small frame. He can't have been older than 6 months. He was too small, and too young looking. Why would someone do this to such an innocent thing.

I pulled the puppy to my chest and stood up. "Don't worry. I know how you feel with the whole knife thing." I rubbed my cheek as I walked away. The scar had faded, but the thin silver mark was still there, and it was still noticeable. And, even had it not been, my ear would always be.

"But I'll take care of you. I'm sure that Spencer will let me. And if he doesn't, I'll go out and get myself an apartment or something. How does that sound?"

The puppy licked my cheek, but whined again as it strained the injury. I shushed it, "Easy. Don't move too much, or it'll hurt worse. I know from experience."

Surprisingly, it listened. It had no collar, so I assumed it didn't have an owner. I'd have to get it vaccinated, and give it a bath ASAP.

Thankfully, I had gotten a job at a local bookstore/café that paid well, so I could pay for it myself.

The dog was a him I think. I had always wanted a dog, even done research in case I actually got one. I had always wanted a husky or a German Shepherd. Maybe even a pitbull. I wanted a protective dog. That was all I was certain of. That and that I refused to ever even entertain the idea of having a toy dog, the yapping would drive me insane.

I walked across the street and hastened towards the apartment.

I wasn't sure if the building would be open at this hour, and hadn't taken my keys with me earlier, so I awkwardly climbed up the ladder to the fire escape with the dog in my arms.

After several minutes of hoisting myself up with one arm, I finally reached the window. I slid it open and climbed inside.

When I turned towards the kitchen, I smelled coffee. Spencer must have been up already.

I walked into the kitchen and Spencer heard me. Without turning around from his position next to the microwave, he said, "Morning, Kiles. Do you want some coffee?"

He turned around to look at me, and sighed. "Let me guess. You want to keep it."

I beamed at him. "Yep. I'll buy everything he needs, I'll train him, and I'll get him to the vet today."

Another sigh. He glared at me grumpily, opened his mouth to start an argument, though better of it, and turned around mumbling, "I need coffee. Fine. Keep the dog. But it's your responsibility, Kiley! I'm not taking care of it."

I looked at the dog happily and chirped, "Thanks, Spen! You won't regret it."

I pranced to my room with the dog in my arms. I heard Spencer sigh from behind me and mutter, "At least she'll have something to do."

I locked myself in my room, then walked to the bathroom.

I began to fill up the bath and left the puppy on the ground as I went in search of my med kit.

I came back with it in my arms and some injury friendly soap that I found after dealing with my own injuries. It got the dirt out, canceled out chance of infection, and didn't feel like I was cauterizing the injury. I kept some in the med kit in case I'd ever have to use it again.

I unraveled the puppy from my hoodie, kicked the garment away, pulled off my leather jacket and threw it back into my bedroom, then slowly lowered the puppy into the warm water. He whined pitifully at first, and bit my hand trying to get away. But once he got used to the water, he stopped and let me wash him.

I scrubbed gently at the injury, which earned me another bite to add to the growing list. It took at least 20 minutes before I had a very clean puppy in front of me instead of the thing caked in dirt I had dragged in.

I dried him off with a towel as gently as I could, but it bit me yet again. That was three bites on my hand I'd need to take care of once I was done with him.

Once he was dry, I held him down and applied some anti-bacterial cream, as well as painkilling cream, to the injury and wrapped it tightly with white gauze.

With my task finally complete, I looked down at the puppy. I'd take him to the vet later today, I'd need to call actually, but I would also have to get him a lot more stuff.

He'd need puppy food, dog bowls, a bed, a collar, maybe some toys, training pads, lots of time, and, most importantly, a name.

I bit my lip, staring into the icy blue eyes in front of me. "What would be a good name for you, hmm? You're a survivor obviously, but I can't call you that. It's too long. Maybe a book character…. A Musketeer? Yeah. You could be a Musketeer. But the question is, which one? Aramis, Porthos, Athos, or D'artagnan. Hmm….. I've always like D'artagnan. But Athos was always pretty cool too. In that new show, Athos has blue eyes. His are a bit darker, granted. But he has blue eyes. So, I'll call you Athos. How does that sound?"

The puppy blinked at me, then laid down on my lap.

"Alright. Athos it is."

Athos huffed, but didn't do anything else. I giggled and picked him up.

Standing, I carried him over to my bedroom with a fresh towel. I put it on the floor near the window, then set him down on it. "Get some sleep, Athos. I'll take you to the vet later. I'll have to call work, tell them I can't come."

I opened the door and walked out. Spencer was now ready for work, and munching on a bagel covered with cream cheese.

"So, what did you name him?" He asked around the bagel. Actually, it sounded more like: 'Sew, whad fid yu rame em?"

I smirked at him, "Wasn't it you who taught me manners? And, I named him Athos."

Spencer grinned at me. He swallowed his bite and said, "I thought your favorite was D'artagnan."

I shrugged and grabbed a bagel for myself. "It is. But, D'artagnan had brown eyes. Athos had blue. The puppy has blue. And he kind of acts like Athos."

Spencer smiled at me, "Well. On that note, I have to get to work. Take, Athos, to the vet today. Get him vaccinated so neither of us get sick. And wrap your hand before you go digging around, bleeding, through the fridge."

I smiled bashfully at him, "Oops. Forgot about that."

Spencer rolled his eyes and waved before walking out the door.

With a sigh, I washed my hand in the sink before going back into my room to get the med kit. After wrapping it similar to my puppy, I pulled out my phone and called the book store I worked at. Musket Books. They would definitely need to know I wouldn't be at work today until this afternoon.

 **Sapphire here! So, did anyone catch the thing I put into this chapter? I love the Musketeers, so, naturally, I have to go looking for more stories of said Musketeers. One set of stories I stumbled upon is mentioned in this chapter. Does anyone else get it?**

 **Also, Athos is a really good name.**

 **And no, I won't put any mention of actually going to Musket Books. That story is not mine, and, unless the author grants me permission, I won't put someone else's work here.**

 **I realize how** **hypocritical** **that sounds. Shut up.**

 **ST**


	2. Puppy Problems 2

After getting the morning off work, and getting an appointment said morning, I went back into my bedroom and showered. I changed into dry clothes and put my hair into a braid.

After shrugging on my jacket, I picked up Athos and walked out the door. Successfully remembering my keys this time.

Athos slept soundly the entire walk to the vet. Poor thing. An injury like that….. Well, I wasn't very surprised. When I was healing, I (frustratingly) couldn't stay awake longer than an hour before crashing again. I was a teenager with boundless energy. This was just a puppy who had gone through a very traumatic experience.

I walked through the door to the vet's office. There wasn't anyone else there, and I wasn't too surprised. It was only 7:00 am.

A reception lady looked up at me and smiled kindly, "Are you Kiley Reid?"

I nodded, "Yeah. And this is the poor puppy I mentioned on the phone." I held up Athos slightly so she could see him.

She cooed and came around the counter, "Poor dear. Did you wrap him yourself?"

I nodded, "Yes. I have a bachelor in medical science. So I know enough to help him."

She nodded, "Alright. Let's get him into an examination room."

She led me to a room with a cartoon dog on the front and asked me to put Athos down on the counter. I did as I was told and he awoke to the feel of the cold metal. He groggily looked around before growling at the lady.

I put my hand on his uninjured side and he relaxed slightly, but kept looking at the lady with mistrust.

She nodded to me with a smile, "The doc will be right in. Wait here."

Then she walked out, closing the door behind her.

With a sigh, I jumped onto the counter and pulled Athos onto my lap. I scratched behind his ears lightly and he closed his eyes, leaning into my touch.

I was so absorbed by the tiny thing in my hands that I jumped violently when the door swung open again. The vet, a bald, dark skinned man with warm brown eyes and a lean build in his 6'4 frame, walked in. He looked to be in his late 20's or early 30's.

He smiled at me apologetically, "I apologize. I had not meant to scare you." His voice was deep, and very rich and soft, like velvet.

I smiled bashfully back at him. "No, you're fine. I should have been paying more attention."

Athos was growling at the doctor now, and the man laughed. "Feisty little thing, isn't he?" The doctor had a slight accent. I couldn't really place it, but the familiarity tickled at the back of my mind.

"Yeah. He is. Although, with an injury like he's got, I'm not surprised." I replied with a smirk.

I jumped off the counter and placed the groggy Athos back. He glared up at the doctor in distrust.

The doctor smiled at him again before holding out a hand to me, "I'm Doctor Dorian Silver."

I held out my hand, which happened to be wrapped up, "Kiley Reid. Pleasure to meet you."

He inclined his head and looked pointedly at my injured hand. I fidgeted, "Uh, Athos bit me when I was cleaning his injury."

"Athos?"

"The dog."

"Ah. I'm a fan of les Inseparables myself."

 _"_ _Tout le monde a besoin d'un héros."_

Yes. After learning Italian, I learned French in a fit of boredom. Sue me. I was currently trying to learn German.

Doctor Silver raised his eyebrows, "Impressive. 'Everyone needs a hero', hmm? I agree."

"You know French?"

He gave me a grin, "I was trying to impress a woman. French is the language of love. Besides, my grandmother was French. She tried to teach me when I was younger, and that's what made it so easy when I got to college." His accent sounded South African. But I wasn't sure.

I smirked back. Athos gave me a confused look.

Doctor Silver turned to him then, and gently removed the wrapping. When he did, he set the scissors down and turned to the wall, breathing hard.

"Do you know who did that to him?" His voice was low, and angry.

"Nope. I was walking early this morning and heard him. He was in the northwest side of the park. Near the lake. I don't know how he got there, and I don't know how he was still alive when I found him. Normally, wounds like that bleed a lot. After seeing what he had gone through, and survived, I decided to keep him." I explained.

He turned back around, his eyes pained. He gestured to my face and asked with a sincere tone, "Did it remind you of yourself? Not that it is any of my business. But I've often noticed that people choose their pets because of physical or emotional connections to themselves."

I waved him off, "Don't worry about it. Yes. It reminded me of myself. I had some psycho take a knife to me and give me a mark that won't go away too. My heart went out to him, because I know what it feels like."

The doctor gave me a look that wasn't pity, but more acceptance. Which I was thankful for. I had enough of pity.

He nodded to me and gestured back to Athos. "I'll have to take him to surgery. You can leave him here and go pick up things for him. I assume you haven't done that yet?" I shook my head and he smiled at me, "I'll make you a list before you leave of things he'll need."

I nodded and he wrote a list down on a notepad. He handed it to me and smiled reassuringly, "He'll be fine. If he's made it this far, chances are he's too much of a fighter to quit now. Probably like you."

I smiled at him, "Thank you." I knew I wasn't just talking about Athos. He knew it too. Athos probably knew it.

The doctor gave Athos a sedative, and once he was out, I left the office.

I looked down at the list I had been given, sighed, and walked towards the nearest store that could have what I needed.

Criminal Minds

I walked out of the apartment, already having put everything up, and walked towards the vet's office again.

When I arrived, more people were there. I saw a Siamese cat being cuddled by a six year old in the corner. An old woman with her Yorkshire terrier near the door. A veteran with his bulldog. A young woman with her poodle. A man with a chocolate lab smiling flirtatiously at the poodle lady.

The receptionist saw me and gestured me over with a wave. "I'll let Doctor Silver know you're back. Your little pup is adorable. He has the most adorable glare, and he acts so frumpy, it's so cute! But you can wait there," She pointed to an empty chair, "Doctor Silver should be right here."

I nodded and sat down as requested. I waited a few minutes before Doctor Silver strode into the waiting room. I stood up and he beckoned me to follow him with a smile.

I followed him into the backroom where the animals were kept, and he led me over to a cage in the corner. Inside was a groggy, drugged up to his eyeballs, glaring, frumpy puppy named Athos. When his blue eyes locked on me though, he woke up enough to wag his tail towards me and his eyes brightened considerably.

Doctor Silver gave a laugh that was both loud, but soft at the same time.

"This little guy has already won over all the nurses. I think if you hadn't decided to adopt him, I would have had at least 9 volunteers. Including myself. However, no matter what they tried, none of the nurses could make him look that happy. Also, I figured out what type of dog he is." Doctor Silver informed me.

He took Athos out of the cage and handed him to me. Instantly, Athos cuddled up in my shirt and closed his eyes.

Doctor Silver smiled fondly at the dog and looked back up at me. "You will have one very intelligent, very protective, very dangerous dog defending you. Be sure to train him correctly, or you could have problems with him. He is a hybrid of a husky, a German Shepherd, and, from what I can tell, a strange breed that no one can identify. But," He looked at me seriously, "If I had to guess, I'd say wolf based on the way his canines look, and his claws. So be sure to train him properly, and never get lazy with him. To remain healthy, he'll need lots of exercise. And be sure to discipline him. A lot of pet owners say it's cruel to the animal, but in his case, it will be cruel if you don't. He'll need strict command mixed with a bit of coddling. As he gets older, it'll be very important to keep that alpha command with him. But, also show him affection. He'll need to know that he's under your command, but also that you love him. It'll make him more responsive to you, and protective.

"German Shepherds are mainly known to be good at taking orders. They are intelligent and can be extremely protective of someone they like. They remember commands and follow them, which makes them good police dogs. Huskies are known for their endurance, stamina, speed, and strength. Something that makes them good sled dogs. And, if my suspicions are correct, the wolf side of him can be vicious and lethal. But, with all that mixed together, and if you train him right, you will have a very, very good protector."

I nodded, looking down at the harmless puppy in my arms. I mean, yeah, his teeth hurt, but that should always be expected. However, with this new info, I needed to start training him right away. House training was high on that list, or Spencer would kill me, but I also needed to start teaching him commands like 'back off' or 'attack' just like 'fetch' and 'bring it back'.

Doctor Silver smiled at me though, and said, "But, I think you'll do just fine. Now, for the nicer part of this discussion. Medication. I've prescribed him some painkillers so he can be comfortable. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend any other types of medication until he gets older, or we could prematurely stunt his growth. I suspect he is 5 to 6 months old at this point. He'll start growing and developing more muscle very soon, so, as soon as he's able, I would get on that training regime.

"But, let his injuries heal for about 3 weeks before you start anything to stressful. After the second week, you can take him out jogging. But as soon as he starts getting tired, stop. We don't want to put too much stress on his body right now. House training and light playing is fine for now. Just take it easy.

"Puppy chow mixed with milk would be the best for him right now, after that 3 week period, you can start giving him the puppy chow dry. Until then, cereal it is. Would you like me to write this down?"

I shook my head and tapped my forehead, "I've got a photographic memory. Will the injury scar badly?"

Doctor Silver shook his head, "Not badly. As he gets older, his fur with mostly hide it. It will stay with him though, much like yours will. But, like yours, it will only be a slight discoloration after a few months. After about 4 weeks his fur will start growing around it. Because of his unique breeding, you might have to schedule annual haircuts for him."

I nodded, "Alright. It doesn't sound too difficult. It actually sounds fun."

He smiled at me, "Just wait until school starts up again. You have the next few months of summer, but you're young, so school will start up in the fall and make it harder for you to interact with him."

I smirked at the Doctor, "I already graduated."

"Highschool?"

"College. With numerous degrees." I wasn't bragging per say. Just stating facts. I didn't say how many.

He looked shocked for a second, before chuckling and shaking his head. "I'll think you'll do just fine with him then. Work still might get in the way."

"Yeah. I know. But my boss is pretty nice, so I think he'll understand. He has a snake. So he knows what having pets looks like."

The doctor shook his head again. "Yeah. You'll do just fine. Also," He put his hand on my shoulder, "Having this scar doesn't mean he'll be bad. So don't get discouraged if people look at him funny. All that matters to him is your opinion." I knew he was talking about more than the dog. He knew I knew. Athos knew.

"Thank you." Again. I wasn't just talking about the dog. And again, he knew, I knew, Athos knew.

Doctor Silver nodded, and pulled out a paper from his pocket. "This has the prescription and my number in case you have any further questions. Also, my wife fell in love with this little one as well. So, if you ever have problems training him, she'd love to help. She's the other doctor here."

I smiled at him, "Thanks."

With that, I walked out, got the medicine, and took Athos home with a spring in my step. This should be interesting.


	3. Attempted Mugging

I threw myself onto my bed with a huff. Work had been fine, fun too, but Jinhai was less so. We were starting to train with kunai knives. Not so bad, right? I was a really good shot. That wasn't the problem. Jinhai had hard wooden replicas that he chucked at me. They bruised when they struck, but I was glad that he didn't actually throw the kunai at me.

I was supposed to be getting better at catching them, and judging where they were coming from based on the sound. That meant that I put my back to Jinhai, and he threw a knife at me.

By the end of the exercise, I was catching them. But I was also covered in bruises. And I still had to take Athos out for a run.

It had been 3 months since the dog had come into my life. In that time, I taught him how to fetch a ball and Frisbee (And was starting to teach him to retrieve my knives for me in case something bad ever happened), he figured out to scratch at the door if he needed to go out, and he figured out that he needed to stay right next to me when we went running.

He had also picked up other tricks, like waking me up at sunrise before my alarm clock could, finding my boots for me, and helping Spencer whenever he could. Because of this, Spencer had come to like the intelligent dog, and had begun to teach him chess. Surprisingly, he was learning very quickly.

Athos barked, jarring me out of my thoughts. I huffed and turned to look at him, he jerked his head to the window and barked again. I sighed, "You want to go running now?"

He wagged his tail. He still had an eternal grumpy look on his face, but he was happier around me. He hardly ever growled now. And only barked (Happily) at me. When he gave his deep, bone shaking bark, I would know something was wrong. He was a puppy, that could sound exactly like a full grown dog.

Granted, he didn't look much like a puppy now. He had gotten a lot taller in a short period of time, and, thanks to all the exercises we did and all the training I put him through, he was developing muscle.

I had also taught him a lot of commands. And figured out an ingenious way to make sure he never attacked anyone unless ordered to by me. I would tell him the hostile commands by pointing to who I wanted him to take down, and speak in German. Nice commands were spoken in English or French. I found it fitting.

He barked again and I pulled myself up. "Okay. Okay. I'm going."

I shuffled over to the closet and pulled out a pair of running shorts and a tank top. After changing quickly and pulling on tennis shoes, I opened the fire escape window in the hall and we jumped out.

We walked down the stairs, and at the bottom, I picked Athos up and slid down the ladder one handed. I dropped the remaining six feet and put Athos back down.

We walked out of the alley, but that was as far as Athos was allowing me to walk. He went behind me and shoved me forward lightly. I stumbled, glared at him, but started running anyway.

Athos looked gleeful at finally being able to run around, and ran step for step with me to the park. I settled for our usual trail that would loop around the entire park and to the oak tree. I tried to keep up a fast pace, the faster I got through this, the faster I could go to sleep. Plus, faster always made Athos happier.

He romped through the bushes and trees happily but always made sure that I was in his eyesight at all times.

I wasn't paying that much attention to the trail in front of me, instead looking at trees as I passed by, and because of this I rammed into something very solid, and definitely not a tree. It was warm, and moving away from me. I had run into someone, literally.

The person's arms came around me and we both started to tumble down the steep hill next to the trail. At some point, I hit something sharp and prickly, probably a bush or a root, and broke away from the person I ran into.

When we finally came to a stop on the bottom of the hill I groaned and stumbled to my feet. The man I had ran into was holding his nose and groaning.

I gasped and rushed forward, "I'm so sorry! I should have been paying more attention! Are you okay?" I helped the man up and he nodded to me.

"I shouldn't have been standing in the way. My apologies." His accent was thick, and heavy, like it was forced. Then again, it could just be his hand clutching his nose that was making him sound weird. Then he waved to me, "Go. Continue on your run. I hope you are not hurt?"

I shook my head as Athos slid down the hill to rest beside me. I bowed my head once more, "Again, I'm really sorry."

I turned and ran off, Athos following close behind me. The man didn't follow me, just stood there clutching his nose and staring after me.

Athos and I kept running, and instead of stopping for a break at the oak tree, I decided to just go straight home. My bruises had bruises, and my shoulders ached from the tumble down the hill. Plus, there was a weird stinging along my lower back that stretched from hip to hip. It was also extremely warm.

Instead of going in through the window like I usually did, I went through the lobby. I raced up the stairs with Athos at my heels until I reached my door, panting.

I reached into my shoe and pulled out my key. After letting myself in, I staggered to my room. I felt awful.

Instead of collapsing onto my bed like I so desperately wanted to do. I took a shower.

That hurt worse than I thought it would. The water hit the injury on my back and made the pain flare. I will admit, I did cry out. I'm not made of stone thank you very much.

But, the odd pain made me actually look at the injury as well as I could through the mirror. What I saw made me gasp. A jagged cut was there instead of the bruise I thought it was. It was bleeding sluggishly, and probably wouldn't need stitches. But it would sure hurt for a few days.

I looked down at my running clothes and saw the blood coating them. I didn't look at them when I first stripped to get into the shower. This was ridiculous, I'm an idiot, and the universe was punishing me. Plus, I can't forget to mention the fact that I'm shaking, so I'm probably going into shock.

I sighed, forcing myself to calm down.

Then, I grabbed the med kit, awkwardly applied some healing cream, and wrapped the injury tightly. It still hurt, and would probably hurt for a long time, but it was okay for now. Hopefully it didn't get infected.

I dress in a loose t-shirt so I wouldn't aggravate any other injuries, and a pair of baggy sweats. Done with that, I padded out of my bedroom with Athos right behind me and went into the kitchen.

I began to make dinner, and was just putting the homemade pizza into the oven when my phone rang. With a sigh, I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at who was calling.

"Hey Trish."

"Hey girl! I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tonight! We could get ice cream, maybe talk a bit. Catch up, you know?"

Something in her voice sounded off.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, walking around the door to see Spencer ducking into the house.

"Yeah. Yeah. Everything is okay. I just wanted to….. Catch up with you. It's august and we haven't done much since you graduated. You're my friend and I want to hang out. Something wrong with that?" I could hear the lie in her voice, but decided not to comment. I'd weasel the answer out of her later.

"I'd love to meet up. Where and when?"

I could hear the relief in her voice as she replied, "Uh, I could go or some ice cream. You know that little shop on the corner of 5th avenue? Let's go there."

"Alright. What time?"

"Uh, 7:30 work for you?"

I glanced at the clock. 7:00 right now.

"Sure. I'll see you there. Just us?"

"Yeah, just us."

"K. See you then."

"Yep."

I looked down at the phone in my hand, biting my lip. Something was wrong, and I don't know what.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked as he bustled past me.

"Oh, something is up with Trish, and she won't tell me what. I'm going to meet her for ice cream at 7:30, is that okay?"

"Yeah. Um, I won't be here when you get back. We've got another case. Texas."

I looked down, "Alright. The pizza I put in should be ready in 15 minutes. I'll grab a quick bite then leave. Need help packing?"

Spencer shook his head, "No. I've got my go bag. I just need to take a shower and change."

I nodded and he vanished into his room. I sighed and looked at Athos. "I don't think he's looking forward to this case. He's nervous, and antsy. Plus, they normally don't leave at night. So something must be wrong."

Athos blinked up at me and nosed my leg. I smiled gently and rubbed behind his ears.

 **So, we are getting a** **glimpse** **of the action in this chapter. I promise, more stuff happens later on. Also, though the NCIS team will pop up in later chapters, it doesn't happen for a while. So, if you're here for Kiley mixed with NCIS, stay and read on! If you're just here for NCIS, you might have to wait awhile.**


	4. Trouble this way comes

I walked away from the apartment quickly. Spencer had left after getting pizza for the road, and now I was practically running to meet Trish on time.

I wasn't actually running, not for the sake of dignity (Let's face it, I have zero dignity by now. There isn't anything to lose), but because my back hurt. Whenever I moved, the injury cried and reminded me that moving around so much right now was not a good thing. And I had a bachelors in medical science. So I really should be listening to the inner doctor blabbering in my ear. However, the good friend part told the doctor to shut up.

I made it to the shop on time, but through the window I could see Trish waiting in a booth. She looked antsy, anxious, and depressed. Not a good combo for my favorite Irishwoman.

I walked inside quickly. Trish looked up sharply when the bell sounded through the store, and a look of relief crashed over her face.

I walked over to her and sat across from her with a smile. "Hey Trish. So, not that I don't love spending time with you, but what's wrong? You don't look well."

She didn't. She had bags under her eyes, and her hair was a mess of curls that it usually wasn't allowed to be.

She gave me an empty smile, "Yeah. This is what I get for being friends with a profiler. Well, I know that you're 17, but… I don't know if the others could help me with this. I won't torture Eric with it, cause his legs with cramp too easy. Lucas doesn't like flying. Jason hates water. Michelle just can't…."

I waved my hand, "Hey! I'll help with whatever is wrong. Who cares if I'm 17? Why would that matter? Trish, I'm your friend. Now, what's wrong?"

She ran a hand through her messy hair. "My family, back in Ireland, they ran into a bit of trouble."

That why. She was always touchy when it came to family. "What kind of trouble?" I asked lightly.

"Well, Gran is sick. And, they don't know if she'll….. If she'll…." My usually happy friend looked down, and I was shocked to see tears form in her eyes.

"And you want to go see her, but you don't want to go alone." I offered gently.

She nodded, "Yeah. Mum and dad can't. But, my cousin sent me a few tickets for a plane. I want to go to them. And got out of school for a few months since it won't really be too bad to because of my track record. I just….. I don't want to be alone."

I reached across the table. "Hey. Of course I'll go with you."

Her head jerked up, and she gave me a hopeful smile, "You will? Oh, thank you! Thank you. I knew I could count on you."

I rolled my eyes, "Wasn't it you who told me that if you fall down, friends will help you back up again? Of course I'll be there for you. We can cause all sorts of trouble in Ireland. Hey! Maybe I can learn Gaelic now."

Trish gave a sort of laugh/sob and rolled her eyes fondly at me. "I'm sure my aunt would love to teach you. Sure it's okay with your brother?"

I scoffed, "Of course it is. He just left for Texas, and might like having me out of his hair for a few months. Can I bring Athos though?"

Trish nodded, "Yeah. My family loves dogs. But he'll have to endure pet travel on a plane."

I bit my lip, "I think he'll be okay. He might be mad at me when we land, but so far he's been good in tight spaces. His favorite place to sleep besides his bed is under mine, and that's a bit of a tight squeeze for him now."

Trish smiled at me, and her entire posture was more relaxed than it had been a few minutes ago. "Well then, ice cream is on me. I'm dragging you across the Atlantic, ice cream is the least I can do. Call your brother and tell him that you'll be gone before he gets back from whatever murderous psychopath has his attention now."

I dialed his number and he picked up almost instantly, "Kiley, I am absolutely positive that I got everything."

I laughed, "I wasn't calling about that, Spen. Trish….. uh…." She was gesturing widely at me. I could sign in ASL, but not Trish Gibberish. "Uh….. Wants a banana? Banana Ice cream? No. Um….. I don't know what that is… me to give her an orange. Orange Ice Cream. Oh! She wants to talk to you."

Trish slumped in obvious defeat as I handed her my phone. She glared at me before starting to talk to Spencer.

"Hi! Yes. I'm fine. No, I don't want banana ice cream. Your sister is terrible at charades."

I tuned her out and began deciding what to put on my ice cream.

When I decided, it seemed that Trish had managed to convince Spencer, because she was smiling wider. "Definitely. I'll be sure to keep her out of trouble. Yes, my family will love her. We should be back in a minimum of a month, maximum three. Can you live without her that long? Yes, Athos will be coming with. No, I won't lose either of them."

I looked out the window to see a few guys loitering around the bus stop. One of them was in the middle of a particularly agitated phone call, and was swinging his arms widely. A few of the other guys looked scared, while the rest looked bored.

Then, as one, they all looked towards the ice cream shop I was currently sitting in. One of them locked eyes with me and I sat up straighter, aggravating my injury further, it was the guy who I knocked over earlier today! Did I just unknowingly piss off a gang? Oops.

He just gave me a single nod, then looked away. He said something to others and they all scattered away. I couldn't help but feel more on edge by the odd behavior, especially from the guy I knocked over. But I grinned at Trish when she handed my phone back, already having hung up on Spencer.

"Convince him?"

"Darling, please. This is **me** we're talking about. I could convince anyone to do whatever I wanted them to." Trish says smugly.

I rolled my eyes and laughed at her. She grinned back at me. But she sobered quickly, "Thank you." The sincere remark has me grinning again.

"Darling, please. This is _me_ we're talking about. I would never leave a friend behind. Either emotionally or physically. You should know that by now." I fired back, getting the mood to lift and Trish to throw a sugar pack at me.

The waiter comes and collects our orders. He takes the menus away with a small, flirtatious smile directed at Trish. She looks confused that she isn't the one starting with the flirting, and stares at his retreating back in shock.

He is attractive; with windblown brown hair, sharp golden eyes, tan skin, a clean cut beard, and a lean, well-built build. Not necessarily my type, but definitely would work for Trish.

I take a sip of the waters he left us, "Hey Trish, you might want to close your mouth before something flies in."

"I want him to." Came the dreamy reply.

I choked on my water.

Criminal Minds

Much, much later, after we had eaten our ice cream, we went back to my apartment.

We were outside the building when I asked, "When are we leaving?"

She shrugged, "The plane leaves tomorrow at 10:00. I'm already packed, so you might want to hurry."

I sighed and shook my head, "I'll have to call my boss then, and explain I'm taking a temporary leave. I'm pretty sure he won't mind. He says I'm a decent employee, and worth what I throw at him."

Trish wiggled her eyebrows at me and I scoffed, tossing my hair over my shoulder. "Don't okay? Don't even entertain that idea. He's going to get married someday. If he and his fiancé actually decide on a date."

I gave her a sidelong grin as I unlocked the apartment door, "And don't think I didn't see you slip your number in with the tip."

She blushed violently, her entire face lighting up a deep red color that matched her hair. She shoved me and walked into the apartment.

Athos greeted us at the door and wagged his tail at Trish. She kneeled down in front of him and began scratching his ears, "Hello 'Thos. Your master is being very mean to me. Very, very mean. You should bite her."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone. I dialed my boss, hoping that he was still awake. He picked up the phone and I quickly informed him off the situation. He readily agreed to it, saying that I deserved some vacation time anyway, and to have fun in Ireland.

With that done, I began bustling around, trying to pack everything and anything I'd need for a long trip. Trish helped for the most part, and told me not to pack much dog food. We would buy more once we got there, so I should just pack his dog bowls, his bed, and whatever else he'd need that wasn't food. I also dug the gigantic dog carrier that I'd bought a month ago. It was big enough that he could turn around in it as he pleased, so hopefully he'd be okay for a 7 and half hour flight. We would be flying from Norfolk, Virginia, to Shannon, Ireland. From Shannon, we'd drive to Westport. We could just fly closer to Westport, but Trish wanted to show me Ireland. And a scenic, 4 to 5 hour drive would do just that.

Eventually, 3 hours later, I was completely ready to go. Except for Athos' dog bed; but I would pack that in the morning.

So, completed with our task, Trish vanished to get her things. She had decided it would be easier to just go straight from one house to the airport. So, she was going to get her car and her stuff and bring it back here. Then, in the morning, we would head straight out.

When she came back, I had already put blankets and pillows in the living room, and a movie was prepped, ready to go.

We fell asleep to the Lord of the Rings.

 **Okay, so, pretty slow right now, I know. But, guess who is coming in soon? I'll give you a hint, one of them is named Walter, another is Toby, and Happy too. Know who's coming now? Wait and see...**

 **ST**


	5. New Friends

I hated everything about the plane ride. EVERYTHING. My legs were cramped pretty much the entire way. I had a window seat, which wasn't much of a consolation, so I couldn't just walk around to my leisure. The injury on my back was screaming in pain the entire flight, and just when it would stop hurting, the plane would jostle and send it into more pain. And, I know it wasn't the mother's fault (Or the baby's for that matter. Poor thing probably had a worse time than I did), but a screaming baby was right behind me.

I didn't want to think about what my poor dog was going through. I was having anxiety just thinking about thinking about it.

I finally just put on my surround sound headphones, turned my music full blast, and worked on brainiac books that gave you problems from Science to Math to English. Even Mechanics and Aerospace. It was fun, and challenging too.

By the time the plane landed, I had finished all but one. And that one was driving me bonkers.

I took Athos out for a walk as soon as I got him back and found my luggage which had his leash. Once we had walked around the outside of the airport, Trish stole him so they could find her bags, which she had been unsuccessful in finding so far.

She left me on a bench with specific instructions not to move until she got back.

I agreed without complaint (My back was happy to be off the turbulence ridden flight) and sat down, still trying to puzzle over the book. I had about 10 more in my luggage to entertain me, but I would drive myself insane if I didn't finish this problem. Normally science wasn't this hard!

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man in a dark purple button up walk by me, stop, back up, and look over my shoulder. I pretended not to see him, and continued pretending when he sat down next to me and leaned over my book.

I finally sighed and looked at him, "Can I help you?" I asked. The problem was making me annoyed and irritable. Add that to a plane sick Kiley and you get an explosive chemical.

The man just pulled out a notebook from his messenger bag and began jotting down a formula. He muttered to himself, scribbling furiously.

I peeked over out of curiosity, and found myself following his thought process. Math was similar to Science, and, in Science, you could hardly go anywhere without Math. They worked side by side.

This problem had math it in.

I pointed at a flaw in his formula, "That should be 32 squared. Not 31."

He looked up at me, his mouth turning down. "How do you get that?"

I pointed it out again. "The volume times mass times weight couldn't equal a prime number. Which is what 31 is. So it's either 30, or 32. Both of which are not prime numbers and could fit into the formula you're writing."

He looked back at his paper, looked at me, looked at the book in my hand, nodded and corrected it. We kept going back and forth like this. I would point out something, and he'd either correct me, or I'd correct him. Neither of us admitted that we had needed correcting either.

30 minutes later, we had filled up several pages of his notebook, and not gotten any further.

I huffed and looked back at the problem. "Maybe we're approaching this wrong? It could be something where you can't think logical, and instead have to take an illogical route."

The man thought about it, "It's possible. Some problems have to be like that. They make sense by not making sense. They appear logical, by appearing illogical."

He turned to a new page in his notebook and began writing another formula down. I pulled out my own notebook and began writing a different formula.

10 minutes later, the other man was grinning and shaking his head at me as I scribbled away furiously. I changed directions numerous times, and nothing was working. I had been muttering curses in every language I knew too. When I looked at the man, I got the feeling that he didn't smile much, so I let him laugh.

I sighed and finally put my pen down. "Ugh. This is going to drive me insane." I grumbled.

He nodded knowingly. "Do you mind if I take this?" He pointed to the book and I handed it to him. As an afterthought, I wrote down my number and handed that to him too.

"If you solve this problem, please call me. I've already memorized it, so you won't have to explain the problem. Just the answer. I have 10 more books that have more problems like that, and it would be nice to have an example."

He nodded, "Sure. I've got some friends who….. Might be able to help." He sounded hesitant to admit that he needed help. Sounds like me actually. I was loath to admit that I needed help. And only my curiosity had allowed me to accept his, unsuccessful, attempt at help.

I grinned at him, "Kiley Reid."

He smirked at me, "Walter O'Brian."

I nodded, "Pleasure is all mine."

"Likewise."

Then two calls shook us out of our new found friendship.

"Walter!" A man with a….. bowler hat is the best I can describe it…. Shouted and waved to him. Several more people were with him and looking at me curiously.

"Kiley!" Trish was waving her arms at me. She had her luggage and my dog looked ready to go to sleep.

Walter smiled at me again and stood at the same time I did.

"Where are you headed?" He asked.

"Westport. You?"

He smirked, "Us too. Maybe I'll see you there?"

I gave him a sidelong grin, "Hopefully. We can put our massive intellects together and solve that problem. If one of us doesn't solve it first."

He jumped into motion then, pulling out his phone and punching some numbers in. Seconds later, my phone buzzed. I took it out of my pocket curiously and Walter said, "Just in case you solve it first."

I smirked. "Race you?"

He grinned back, "You're on."

I laughed and picked up my bags. I gave him one last wave, and waved to his dumbfounded friends, then hurried over to Trish.

She gave me an exasperated look and asked, "Can I leave you alone for half an hour and not have you making weird friends?"

"Walter isn't weird, he's smart. Which, I suppose, makes him weird to you." I replied cheekily. Multitasking; defending my new friend, and teasing my other friend.

She punched me in the arm, so hard it stung.

"Oh, I forgot to ask. Did you tell your scary self defense coach you were leaving?" Trish asked.

My mouth fell open. _"Crap."_

 _On the other side of the airport. No one's POV:_

"Walter! Who was she and how on earth did she make you, the world's hardest person to make grin, smile and laugh?" Toby asked incredulously.

Paige nodded, "Yeah. You were Mr. Frumpy when we left you to get our stuff. Now you're smiling, and laughing with someone you don't even know."

Happy smirked, "So a better question is, who are you and what did you do to Walter O'Brian?"

Walter frowned, "I smile."

Toby rolled his eyes, "Sure, at Ralph and your rocket. Hey, maybe we just need you to be with more kids! She wasn't that old. I'd guess 18, maybe 19 based on her height. How _did_ she make you laugh, by the way?"

Walter looked down, mumbling his answer.

Toby leaned forward, "Sorry, what was that? You're gonna have to speak up there, pal."

Walter glared, "She couldn't solve a problem in her book," He held up the brainy book, "So I tried to help her. Neither of us could get it, and she acts like….. Like me when she can't answer. I found it….. amusing."

Paige smiled at him and squeezed his arm, "You know, it isn't bad to admit that you were having fun."

Walter frowned and was about to broach the topic further, when Cabe popped up. "Come on people, car's here."

With a sigh, Walter picked up his bags and fell into step beside Cabe.

Toby frowned, looking at Happy and Sylvester. "Did one of you memorize the number in his hand? Our mystery girl gave it to him."

Sylvester raised his hand, "Uh… I did."

Toby grinned widely at him, clapping him on the shoulder. "Well done my fine friend! Now gimme."

Sid looked affronted, "But, she gave it to Walter. Not to us. Wouldn't it be kind of rude?"

Toby sighed, shaking his head while they walked away, "Now, we wouldn't be that terrible of friends. No, my fine, photographic memory friend, we would be checking out who this girl is so we could protect Walter."

Sid frowned and pointed out, "But you said she was 19. How could she pose a threat to Walter?"

Toby gave him a flat look, "Do I even need to answer that question? Danger comes in all packages mi amigo. I mean, look at Happy!"

Said girl smacked Toby on the back of his head, making his hat fly onto the ground.

"Hey! Watch the hat!" Toby complained as he picked it up.

"Then watch your mouth." Happy fired back.

"Guys! Are you staying here or what?" Cabe bellowed from the doors, making the three hurry to catch up because Cabe might actually leave them there.

 **So, what do you guys think? I adore Scorpion, and just could not leave them out of this. Especially since the NCIS team won't pop up for a while, and the BAU team even longer. So someone had to come in. Also, I have never been to Ireland, so I apologize if I get something wrong. And, I'm sorry if I get the Scorpion characters wrong. I think I'll be fine with Toby, 'cause he's as sarcastic as I am.**

 **ST**


	6. Family Problems

Kiley's POV:

"Oh! My cousins and I used to go there!" Trish pointed out the window to a carnival.

We were near Wesport, just on the outskirts actually, and Trish was getting more and more excited about it. "I'll have to take you there once we get settled. I remember, there was a little shop that used to sell the best lemonade."

Now that we had actually gotten to Ireland, Trish's accent was becoming more and more pronounced. I was actually catching myself slipping into it. It was a fun accent to do though, and Trish just laughed at me when it happened.

"Sounds good, Trish. I can't wait to see the town that put up with you for years." I replied with a grin.

She smacked me and I giggled, "Hey! Focus on driving!"

She rolled her eyes, "We aren't going into the city, dummy. My family's estate is near the mountain, see those trees? That's where we going. The worst we might see is sheep."

I gave her an impish look and she pointed a threatening finger at me, "Don't say it. Don't you dare say or I will toss you into the sea!"

I waved my arm around, "What sea? Athos, do you see the sea?" Athos rose from his nap to glare at me.

Trish smacked me again, "The sea is that way! And not far off!"

I rubbed my head ruefully, "Alright, mean person. You're going to give me brain damage if you hit me more."

She snorted, "Going to? You already have it."

I pouted at her and looked out the window. Unfortunately, she wasn't my brother, so she was immune to the puppy look. I wouldn't gain much headway if I tried it either. So, I satisfied myself to looking out the window.

About 20 minutes later, we pulled up to a massive wrought iron gate flanked by stone walls. Trish gave me a sort of bashful look and said, "My family is one of the wealthier in the area."

She got out, unlocked the huge gate and swung it open. It creaked ominously and I felt like I was in a horror movie.

We pulled through the rows of weepy sort of trees and eventually came to a stop in front of a four story mansion.

Trish pointed to either side and said, "Everyone lives on the estate. Including employees. The different properties are separated with stone fences. This was my parent's old house, but they gave it to me. When I finish college, I'll have the option of either coming back here and working for the family company, or staying in America."

We got out and unloaded everything from the car onto the front steps.

As she unlocked the door, I asked, "So, what business does your family own?"

She smirked at me, "The better question is what businesses my family doesn't own. They own most of the fishing industry by the water, and a lot of farm land too. But they also have shops in town that are very successful, and have been in the town for generations."

She pushed the door open and we were attacked by a cloud of dust. Trish coughed and glared through the door. "My parents left specific instructions not to let anyone or anything into this house. I guess they did honor that. That's a surprise."

I gave her a curious look and began hauling everything inside. "Why did your parents leave Ireland?"

Trish rubbed the back of her neck after setting down a bag of groceries, "Well, they didn't get along well with the rest of the family. To be honest, I was a bit fed up with my cousins too at the time we left. My aunt and uncle are kind of selfish, but they were the youngest in the family so they wouldn't inherit the company anyway. They were a bit sore about that, and fought with my mother, the daughter everything would go to, a lot. They didn't want to leave the company in my aunt and uncle's hands, but they had to get away before something bad happened."

I tilted my head, letting Athos inside after he had explored the outside. "Were they getting violent?"

She nodded as she began putting groceries into the fully functional fridge. "Yeah. Started making threats and such. They were worried about me, so, we packed up and left. My gran decided that since my parents didn't want it, it would pass on to me if I so chose. I'm still trying to decide if I want to or not. The people that work for us are good, strong, loyal people, and if they were suddenly handed to the greed of my aunt and uncle… I couldn't bare it. But, I also want to stay in America. With my friends. So, unless the uncle I've never known comes back, I'm left between a rock and hard place."

"Uncle?" I asked while stocking the somewhat dusty cupboards.

She nodded, "Uncle Fernandez. He was the second oldest, after my mother. So, rightfully, the company would belong to him. But he left, I think 18 years ago? In search of adventure. Last that we knew, he was in China somewhere. He said that he would come back to take care of the company, he was always better at management among the siblings anyway, but we haven't really heard from him in years."

I bit my lip. That was a bit of a problem.

Scorpions

Later, after packing all the groceries away and all of Athos' stuff, Trish showed me to the room I would be staying in. It was on the fourth floor, and had a balcony facing the giant wonders called mountains, behind the house.

The room itself was big, at least as big as the living room in the apartment, and very blue. The walls and ceiling were dark blue, the bed had dark blue blankets and a comforter that were currently being washed, a dark blue vanity, and blue curtains covering the floor to ceiling windows that led out to the balcony. The floor was hard oak wood that looked amazing even after no one taking care of it for years.

Trish left me to go to her room, which was on the second floor.

I began unpacking everything while Athos laid on his dog bed that I had put near the windows, just watching me with a blue gaze.

After I finished, I heard someone ring the doorbell. A few minutes later and I heard Trish chattering excitedly with someone.

I walk down the stairs with Athos at my heels to see Trish in the middle of what I assume to be a family reunion. There were several people her age surrounding her, and they looked a bit like her too. Not as much as siblings did, so I guessed cousins.

Trish looked up when I walked in and grinned at me, "Hey, Kiles! These idiots are my cousins."

A few of them cried out in mock outrage, but wound up erupting in laughter. I glancingly wondered what that would feel like, to be a part of a big family and yet still be that comfortable. I had only ever really had Spencer and my mom.

Trish continued, "This is Seamus, Jessica, Justine, Joshua, and Sean. Guys, this is the friend I was talking about, Kiley."

I grinned and held up a hand. "Hey. Pleasure to meet you." They were apparently having none of that, because Seamus (A tall, lean boy with copper hair and green eyes) rushed forward, catching me in his arms and spinning me around.

Through his laughter, I yelled at Athos not to bite him, even though my injury screamed at me, and when Seamus finally set me down, I was dizzy and hurt more. Plus, I felt something warm on my back. Guess I'll have to change the bandages.

"Pleasure to meet you!" He said in a VERY pronounced Irish accent. Wow, Kiley, you're a genius! It isn't like he was born in Ireland or anything.

I smiled at him, "Yep. Nice to meet you too." I said slowly. Still trying to get my bearings back and the pain under control.

Sean and Joshua, identical twins with vibrant red hair and blue eyes, glomped me next. "She's pretty!" They chirped in unison after putting me on the ground again.

They leaned their elbows on my shoulders and grinned at Trish. Seems like everyone in her family was tall.

Jessica, a blue eyed brown haired girl, rolled her dark eyes and smiled at me. "You can hit them. No one would blame you."

They both clutched their chests while maintaining their hold on me and cried, "You wound us!"

I smirked and elbowed them both, making them leap away from me dramatically. I accepted Jessica's and Justine's outstretched hands. Justine had dark blue eyes and black hair.

All of them were pale, all of them had freckles, and all of them were fit.

Sean clapped Trish on her back and said, "Well, Gran wanted to see you. So, let's go!"

Trish grinned and nodded, "Alright. Come on, Kiley!"

I moved to step forward, but Joshua held up his hand. "Wait. I'm sorry, Kiley. But I don't think Gran will want to see you right now. She just wanted the family."

Trish scowled and grabbed my arm, towing me to her side, "She is family! My family!"

Joshua looked down and I smiled gently at Trish. "Hey, I can meet her another time. I was going to ask to journey the two anyway. Go visit with your family, Trish. I don't mind going somewhere else."

She grimaced, "But I drug you here to meet my family…."

I smiled, "I can meet them another time. If this is just a family thing, I don't want to intrude. Go with your cousins. I have money, I'll take the car, and I'll take my dog. I'll explore the town of Westport, then, when you're done, you can come show me everything you loved when you lived here. Okay?"

She nodded hesitantly, "Are you sure it's okay?"

I grinned brightly at her, "Positive. Go catch up with your family. Athos and I will attempt not to get in trouble."

She snorted weakly, "With you, I think it'll be too difficult."

I laughed, tossing my head back. "If I do find trouble, you might have to bail me out of jail."

She laughed, shaking her head at me. I winked at her, waved to her cousins, and walked upstairs.

When I got to my room, I quickly checked my injury to find that the scabs had broken, and blood was sluggishly dripping down my back. I sighed before changing the bandages and changing shirts.

When I was done, I grabbed my jacket (Not the leather one. Just a hoodie this time. It looked warm outside, so I probably wouldn't need more than that.) and whistled for Athos. When I went downstairs, Trish was gone, and she had left the keys to the gate, the house, and the car on the table.

Athos padded with me to the car and hopped into the passenger seat. I double checked that I had everything, then started the car and drove off.

I closed the gate on the way out, and used the map to find my way to Westport.


	7. HappyWaterBad

Westport was a nice town, and Athos and I had fun exploring it. Most of the shops were dog friendly if he was on a leash, so we weren't as hindered as we would be otherwise.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just wondering from shop to shop, and I finally stopped wondering near a river that flowed in from the sea. There was a bridge dipping over it a bit upriver.

With the stars just coming out alongside the moon, and the sun dipping under the mountains, it was a pretty picture and I wished I had brought my sketchbook. I settled for taking a picture and drawing it later.

Athos was lying next to me and he watched the waves going through the river with rapt attention.

It was starting to get cold with the breeze, despite it being August, so I got up and was about to walk away when I heard a yell from upstream.

I jerked my head towards the sound and saw someone fall off the bridge into the icy water below.

The current was strong on either side of me, but fine where I was. The water was a bit below the landline, but it would be relatively easy to throw someone onto it.

I didn't hesitate, I stripped off my hoodie, my keys, my phone, slipped out of my shoes and socks, and got near the edge of the river as the person started floating towards me.

It was a girl with long black hair. That was as much as I could gather.

She was flailing around, trying to get some movement to keep her afloat, but the strong current was making it difficult, and she kept dipping under the water's edge. With as cold as I guess it was, it wasn't surprising that it was sapping her strength. I'd have to be quick.

Her companions were running towards me, waving their arms and shouting for her.

When she got closer to me, I dived in.

Scorpion

I have gone swimming in the frigid waters at the eastern coast of the US at night in October. That was freezing. This was still freezing, but doable after going into the ocean in October so much.

With powerful strokes, I made it to the girl. I grabbed her waist and pulled her shoulder above water as she coughed and spluttered. I could see her lips turning blue.

I wasn't doing much better, already starting to shiver. But, I had learned to swim in cold conditions. Warm water was easy to navigate, but sometimes you didn't get the choice.

It was difficult with my injury screaming and probably bleeding again, but I began to haul the girl towards the edge of the river, where her friends were waiting to pull her up.

"Happy!" One guy yelled, and I realized with a jolt that it was the same guy from the airport that had called Walter away.

He reached out his hand for her once we got closer and I shoved her forward. The moment his hand connected with her arm, he was tugging her out of the water.

I hadn't expected another hand to appear for me, but took it anyway before the current could pull me away.

A strong hand wrapped around mine and began tugging me out of the water. Athos was barking, but he hadn't attacked anyone yet, so that was a plus.

More hands grabbed my arms and waist, effectively pulling me out of the water and onto land.

I hunched over, aggravating my injury further, and shivered violently. But, shivers were good. They meant my body was still trying to keep warm.

A cough racked my body and I vaguely realized someone was rubbing my back and putting a warm jacket over my shivering frame. I looked up, pushing my mess of hair away from my eyes, to see a concerned brown pair staring back at me.

It was the brownish blonde haired girl, one of Walter's friends.

She was speaking. "Are you okay?"

I gave her a small smile, "S….s….. Sure." I stuttered out.

She gave me a disbelieving look and began rubbing my arms, trying to get the circulation going again.

"Sorry, I don't believe you. You look like a drowned rat." She continued.

I laughed, then another coughing fit made me hunch over and wheeze. I knew that if I didn't get warm soon, I'd get pneumonia, and that was something I didn't want to have.

Suddenly fur connected with my face and I looked up to see Athos with his fur bushed up and snuggling closer to me. Even though the warmth was very, very nice, the other girl had been in longer than me.

So, I stood up, looked at the girl, and pointed. "Go get her warm, Athos." I commanded.

He whined, but did as I asked. He walked over slowly, with his head down to show the very worried man holding the girl that he wasn't a threat, then laid on the girl's lap. She actually moaned at the sudden warmth and hunched over him.

The man looked up at me with wide blue eyes, "Thank you for getting Happy out."

I nodded, still shivering, and tried to say. "Not a problem." But it came out more as, "N….N…Not a… a…. Pro….Prob….. Problem."

Another jacket, bigger this time, settled over my shoulders and a stern looking man that immediately made me think of Gibbs or Hotch, barked, "You're freezing cold, kid! I'd say that was a damn problem!"

I glared at him. "I…. I… Have…. A… a…. name…. you know…." Oh my gosh this is annoying. I hate stuttering.

Walter appeared by his side and nodded to me, "Cabe, meet Kiley Reid. Kiley, this is Agent Cabe Gallow."

I held up a shaking hand in a half wave and Cabe looked at Walter, "You know this kid?"

"She was the one at the airport." Walter explained, looking me over critically.

The others looked up at me and the man holding Happy asked, "The one who made Mr. Frumpy, smile? Nice to meet you, Kiley. I wish it was under better circumstances but hey! You can't have everything apparently. I'm Toby."

The man who was pacing next to Happy looked up at me, "Uh… H…Hi. My name is Sylvester. Nice to meet you."

The girl next to me smiled again, "My name is Paige."

I smiled back at them and stuttered, "A…as…. M….much…. as… I like…. Me…meet and… g…g…greets….. C…can…. We…warm up….or something?" I was shivering violently, and it was making my injury hurt worse. Not to mention the scrapes I now had on my bare arms. Next time, I'm wearing a long sleeve.

Cabe nodded, "She's right. Let's move people. Toby, you got Happy?"

Toby nodded and detangled her from Athos. He picked her up and I noticed that several layers of jackets had been draped over her. Athos walked over to me and pressed up against my legs as I bent down to get my shoes on.

I brushed my hand over his head briefly before picking up my hoodie and tossing it over Happy as well.

I was cold, but she had to be worse. With Athos steadying me, and the group in front of me, already walking away, I walked forward stiffly.

 _No one's POV:_

Paige kept looking back at Kiley worriedly as they walked forward. Her dog steadied her, and kept her from falling over, but the more they walked, the unsteadier she got.

Finally, Paige stepped back and grabbed her arm. Kiley looked up sharply at her, and Athos growled lowly, but Paige ignored both the look and the growl.

"It's okay to ask for help." Paige chided gently.

Kiley huffed a shaky laugh, "Sorry. I'm not used to asking."

Paige smiled at her, knowing that everyone was now listening to them as well, "Why not?"

Kiley's smirk turned slightly bitter, "My family is pretty small, and I never had friends until this year. My father didn't like me very much even though he took me away from my brother and mom when I was a baby, so he didn't help me. My brother tried, but it was a bit difficult since he lived so far away."

Paige frowned, "Why didn't he help you? That's what a dad is supposed to do."

Kiley huffed, shaking her head. "Not mine. He didn't like me because I was smarter than him by age 6. By the time I was 7, I got used to being alone. I didn't have any friends, no one wanted to be friends with a freak that out teached the teachers, so I just never really had anyone to ask. This year though, I got friends. But I still can't get used to having help from someone else. I've functioned as a loner for so long, I can't seem to shake the habit."

She paused, lifting her head, and looking at Paige with an apologetic smile, "Sorry. You probably don't want to listen to me ramble on."

Paige shook her head sharply, "No. Talk all you want. It's fine to talk to people. You can't be a loner forever."

Cabe had stepped back and taken Kiley's other arm, and Walter had stepped behind her. Athos growled at all of them, but didn't move from his spot beside his cold person.

Kiley smirked, "I'm beginning to realize that, don't worry. Is, uh, Happy, okay?"

Toby shrugged. "I'm not sure, her lips are turning pink again, and the shivering is getting better. She hasn't woken up to yell at me yet for carrying her."

"I would, but I don't have the energy." Came the low reply from the girl in his arms.

Toby beamed at her, "So, you live! Next time, let's try not to get so close to the edge of the bridge. And not trip on said bridge."

Happy made a face, but didn't comment.

With that out of the way, the odd group walked through town, earning several stares, until they came upon their hotel.

They walked in, dragging Kiley and Athos with them, and went to the biggest room, which was the room Happy and Paige shared. When they had closed the door and bundled Happy and Kiley up in several layers of blankets, Kiley tried for the fifth time, "You don't need to do this. I can go back to the place I'm staying. I'll be fine."

Cabe gave her a stern look. "No way, no how, kid. You can barely stand, and your lips are still blue. Now, I'm no doctor, but I think that means you need to stay inside, warm up, and not go running off."

The girl sighed. "I know that, I do have a bachelors in Medical Science."

Toby looked up at her from his place in a chair next to Happy's bed. "Oh really? How old are you? A 19 year old can't have a bachelors in Medical Science. You should at least be 23 before you get that."

Kiley glared at him. "Thanks so much for your confidence." She quipped. "I graduated high school at the age of 13. I got the Medical bachelors when I was 14. I have other doctorates too. Would you like me to list them? My specialty is Psychology and Forensics, but I also have Criminology to add to that list too. I'd show you, but I conveniently left them in America."

Toby held up his hands, "Ooh. Sooory. Had no clue I was in the company of genius intellect. You know, Walter, I can see how you two got along so well."

Walter huffed and crossed his arms. "What I want to is, why did you jump in the water? We were too far away from you for you to actually see my face, so you had no clue who Happy was."

Kiley smirked at him, "What, was I just supposed to let her drown? No thanks."

Cabe frowned, "Not that we aren't grateful you did save Happy, but you could have died yourself."

Kiley shrugged, "But I could've saved Happy and myself too. It was a chance, a gamble, and I am very good at gambles. Do you see my face? My ear? I've been through worse than swimming in icy water. Besides, I lived in D.C. for most of my life. And now live in Virginia until I'm 18."

Toby sat up, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You said ' _until_ you're 18'. Just how old are you?"

Kiley looked down, "17."

"17! How does a 17 year old get into so much trouble?!" Toby cried, throwing his hands up and slouching in his chair.

Kiley smirked at him, "When she doesn't learn to shut her mouth sometimes, or has zero self-preservation. And you are not the first one to ask that question."

Walter and Cabe exchanged a look and Toby groaned, "Why did I not like that look?"


	8. To Team or not to Team

Kiley's POV:

I looked up from the blanket covering my lap, already feeling warmer, and stared curiously at Cabe and Walter, who had shared a look that Toby apparently hadn't liked.

They both looked at me and I raised an eyebrow, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Walter narrowed his eyes slightly, "What's your IQ?"

I thought for a moment, "Uh, last I checked, 174. Why?"

Walter grinned at me and Toby shook his head. "No. No way! We can't take in a 17 year old kid!"

I looked around at the others, who looked as confused as I was. Except for Cabe and Walter.

Cabe shrugged, "Why not? Walter already likes her, and it takes a lot for that. She saved Happy, and she's a genius."

I stood up, getting an odd feeling. "With what!?"

Walter looked around, then stepped closer to me. "We are all a team. Scorpion. All of us are smart in different areas. The government chose us to be on a team together to solve world wide threats. Agent Gallow is our government handler. You have a high IQ, you are a profiler, and you have a wide variety of intelligence based on your answers in the book you gave me. You would fit into our team."

My mouth opened and closed. I could not find anything to say.

Walter stepped back, "Of course, you'd have a trial period. You're here, and we have a case here. If you want to help us, that is." He left that hanging there.

On one hand, Trish brought me here for emotional support. On the other hand, I had waltzed in on family matters, and I definitely wasn't part of that family. So I would have to keep my distance anyway, would it be that bad if I helped them out? Of course, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a part of their team or not. I mean, it would be nice to be with people who understand me. But on the other hand, Gibbs had already made it clear he wanted me as an NCIS agent.

Although, a trial period wouldn't hurt.

I shrugged, sitting back down. "I guess it wouldn't be bad to. What's the case?"

Cabe and Walter shared a grin before pulling chairs up in front of me.

Cabe had a file in his hand soon after, and gave me a stern look. "Normally, we couldn't do this. So you can't tell anyone about it. However, this is your trial period. And I'm sure Homeland wouldn't mind having another addition to this team."

I held up my hand, "I know all about government confidentiality. My brother is an FBI agent and I have friends in the NCIS."

Toby scoffed. "How?!"

I gave him a flat look. "Did you think I got into a gang fight and that's how my ear is now permanently marked? I helped out NCIS on a case of theirs, which the FBI also got involved in. I got Kiley-napped for two days, severely injured," I unbuckled the leather bracelets on my wrists and held up the scarred evidence, "And fought my way out. So yes, I know all about laws and danger."

I ignored their shocked expressions, and Toby's slightly guilty one, and took the file Cabe was handing to me.

I read through it quickly. To put is basically, there was a hacker messing with all the systems in Ireland, causing many problems for banks, police stations, and the general government. Scorpion was tasked to finding out who they were, and bringing them to justice before they caused more trouble. They had already gotten several people injured because of the blackouts caused by their little hacking thing.

I looked up at Walter. "Okay, so you guys are here because you tracked the signal here, right?"

Walter nodded and I handed the file back to Cabe. "Yes. But that is as far as we got. We tried to follow the trail further, but they're using a jammer to block the signal. It was only powerful enough to block the signal this far though, otherwise we would still be looking all over Ireland.

"But, we've managed to get underneath the jammer using walkie talkies. The only problem is that with the short range on the walkie talkies-"

"You have to be right next it. Don't you?" I finished. I was familiar with short range scanners, even made a few when I wanted to annoy people. What? I've got brains, might as well use them. And my impish tricks never really hurt anyone. And it's better than going out and murdering someone. You guys should be proud of me for not doing that.

Walter nodded. "Yeah. We were touring the town today, and tomorrow we would split into pairs, or in one case a team of three, and see what we could find."

I bit my lip. "Okay. I assume you want me to go out tomorrow too?"

Cabe nodded. "If you want to, that is. We ain't gonna force you into this."

I smirked at him, "I was just going to be bored soon anyway. Might as well put my evil genius to good use."

That got a laugh out of Toby and he grinned at me, "Forget Walter liking you. _I_ like you!"

I grinned impishly at him. "What's life without a little fun."

Toby clapped, "Oh. We have to do something before we leave Ireland."

Happy reached up and pinched him, "No."

Toby pouted and whined, "But Ireland has to remember me!"

I snickered and it earned me several smiles around the room.

I stood up and let the blankets fall onto the bed. "Well, I've gotten warm now, and it's well past nightfall so my friend will start to get worried if I don't head back to the house soon. I'll be here in the morning though."

I stretched, and instantly regretted it. My injury flared up, reminding me viciously of its presence. I cried out, crumpled towards the bed. The river water probably had NOT helped it out, and I wouldn't be surprised if it had gotten infected.

Athos rushed towards me as everyone else in the room did. When my vision stopped blurring, I realized that Toby was shining a pen light into my eyes. I flinched away and he frowned at me, grabbing my head and keeping me from moving while he continued with his examination.

"Pupils are dilated in pain, breathing is harsh and shallow, but doesn't sound congested or waterlogged. Now then, where's the pain coming from? You don't have a concussion, you aren't suffering from hypothermia anymore, and you are currently not only focusing at me, but also glaring at me." Toby murmured thoughtfully.

I heard Paige's voice behind me, "There's blood on her shirt."

I cursed in every language I knew and Toby frowned, "That isn't very nice to say. Why are you bleeding and why didn't you tell us?"

I winced as I curved my arm around to probe the injury lightly. The skin was slightly inflamed, so my dip in the river was NOT appreciated.

"Uh. Didn't think it was that bad?" I tried weakly.

Toby scoffed at me. "Please. I'm a doctor, please let me look at it before you try to kill yourself."

I scowled at him, "I've had it for…. Two days. You know, I had a convincing argument, and it might have worked if I hadn't started with that." I cursed myself in German and Toby raised an eyebrow.

"Was that German? And what did you do to yourself that is probably infected now?" He inquired as he circled around, the others stepping back to give him room.

I shrugged, "Uh, attempted mugging sent me tumbling down a hill and a branch, or at least I think it was because of the splinters in my back, got me on the way down."

Toby picked up my shirt lightly and whistled. "Ouch. Why is it always you getting hurt?"

I snorted. "I've been asking myself that question a lot lately."

Toby sighed, shaking his head. "I've got medical supplies in my bag. Hey Sid, could you go get them? Paige, go into the bathroom and get a washcloth covered in hot water."

Sylvester, or Sid, rushed out, and Paige walked towards the bathroom.

I frowned, "That really isn't neccasary-"

Happy, who suddenly materialized next to me, smacked me in the back of the head. "Can it." She ordered.

I was given the image of Ziva and complied, clamping my mouth closed with a snap. Happy nodded in satisfaction and looked at the injury. When she did, she smacked me again. I flinched away and frowned at her. "You said you have a medical degree! You should have known better than jump into an icy river with an injury like that." She growled crossly.

I scowled at her, "And let you drown or freeze to death? No thanks." I fired back.

Before she could smack me again, Toby grabbed her arm. "Hey. I said she didn't have a concussion, that doesn't mean you can give her one."

Happy unhappily backed off and sat back down on her bed. Toby nodded to her, "Thank you." He turned to me, "Lie on your stomach. I assume this is the only injury you have?"

I nodded, "Unless you want to count the scrapes on my knuckles and arms." I said as I did as he asked.

I got comfortable and saw Toby frown. "We'll disinfect those too. Can't be too careful."

Cabe scowled at me, "You shouldn't hide injuries kid." He grumped.

"Oh my gosh. You would love Gibbs." I sighed, "I didn't do it intentionally, okay? I didn't think it was that bad. The water must have numbed it."

Sid came back with a box and handed it to Toby at around the same time Paige stepped in with a wet rag.

Toby took both with a nod, and looked at me, "I'm not gonna lie, this is going to hurt."

I smiled grimly, "Don't you think I know that? Just go for it."

I buried my face in the pillow under me as he cut the wrapping it was previously surrounded by and began to clean out the injury. I bit my cheek to keep from whimpering, and soon tasted blood. Finally, he picked the rag up and poured disinfectant over it quickly. I flinched at the sudden cold and Paige rubbed my shoulder. "You're almost done."

I nodded against the pillow as Toby smeared a cold cream onto the injury and put a long piece of gauze over the wound. I sat up then and held out my hand for the wrap. "I can do that." I said.

He handed it over without fuss and I finished wrapping it. When I was done, I looked up to find Paige looking at me worriedly.

I gave her a small smile. "I'm fine. Really. Thanks Toby." I nodded to him and he gave me a half smile.

"Don't make it a habit, okay? I don't like treating my friends."

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything on it.

Paige frowned, "You act like you've done this too many times before. You're just 17."

I shrugged. "Oh well. I've lived through it each time. Maybe I'm tempting fate, but I'm going to keep going the way I'm going."

She shook her head, looking away. I stood up and collected my hoodie, pulling it carefully over my head.

I checked my phone and saw a text from Trish.

 _Helloooooooo. Are you coming hoooome? Or do I need to go drag your ass out of jail?_

I smirked and started to type out a response when another one came out.

 _I made Italian._

I rolled my eyes and replied, _I'll be right there._

 _That's what I thought. No one can compete with my mad cooking skills. Get into trouble today?_

You have no idea. _Nope. Met Walter, the guy from the airport, again. Made new friends. Boring stuff really. How was family?_

While I waited for her to reply, I waved to the people in the room. "My temporary housemate is worried about where I am. I'm fine," I added at their hesitant looks. "I've dealt with worse. I'll go straight home, then meet you guys back here at around 7:00?"

Walter nodded, seemingly unruffled with my shocking declaration that I actually had somewhere to be. "Okay. We'll see you at approximately 7:00 am."

I nodded, threw him a salute, and walked out with Athos next to me.

Right as I stepped out, Trish responded with, _My family is still insane. But I can't say I didn't miss them._

I smiled, putting my phone back into my pocket and walked down the street with Athos padding next to me.


	9. Nice Ice? Nope

**Hey guys! You guys have been super quite lately….. I don't know if you still like my story or not. Please, won't you tell me?**

 **Also, for this chapter, I act like this with my friends A LOT. Do you? What trouble have you cause them? Or are you the one causing the mischief like me? Honestly, my best friend puts up with so much spastic behavior, and yet she still talks to me, and lets me explore stores while dragging her along behind. I'm the taller one of the two of us, so it can get pretty comical when she actually does lose her patience and pull me into a headlock. Especially since I'm about 6 inches taller.**

 **ST**

When I got back to the house, I was completely dry, and my hair was curling madly in every direction. My injury still ached, but it wasn't the pain it had been before. Little things.

I walked inside and Trish's voice wafted from the kitchen, "Over here, Kiles!"

Athos immediately padded into the kitchen and I followed after him asking, "Are we alone?"

Trish came into view from where she was pulling something that smelled delicious out of the oven. "Yep. Just us two bachelorettes. Oh, and Athos too I guess."

I leaned my hip against the island and snorted, "Please. What was the waiter's name? And has he called you yet?"

Trish blushed again and she murmured quietly, "I called him before we left. Agreed to meet him once we got back. His name is John Chase."

I smirked, "Trisha Chase. Kind of has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

She smacked my shoulder and I laughed.

"Hey. Don't knock me if you haven't even gone on a date before." She growled as she put a pan of mozzarella chicken alfredo onto the counter to cool.

I shrugged, "Freak here, remember? No one was really lining up to dance with me."

She glared at me. "You aren't a freak. You're a genius."

I gave her an impish smile. "Nice to know you like my brain."

She huffed, wisely choosing not to be baited. I pouted; until she pulled chocolate fudge out of the freezer and I grinned. "Oh. Now you're just spoiling me."

She smiled sweetly at me, which made me instantly nervous.

I backed away from the fudge warily, "What did you put into it?"

She batted her eyelashes at me and cut a piece out, holding it out to me. "Nothing." She said in a tone that suggested that she had done something.

When I didn't move, her eyes started to get frosty, like mint, and she asked, "Are you going to insult me by not trying my cooking? I thought you were a better friend, darling."

I swallowed thickly. I survived an icy cold dip in the river, a psychopath with knives, and a mad bomber, yet here I was, about to get taken out by my best friend.

I reached out for the fudge, took it from her, and raised it to my lips. I got a wiff of it before it touched my lips. It smelled like mint, chocolate, and raspberry. Not bad at all.

I narrowed my eyes at Trish, "This doesn't have laxatives in it, does it?"

She rolled her eyes, and popped another piece of fudge into her mouth. "Happy?" She asked around the fudge.

I took a deep breath, and popped it into my mouth. I chewed slowly with my eyes closed, waiting for mischief. Instead, I got a strong flavor or raspberry and chocolate, with the hint of mint and some other taste that I couldn't place. If I had to describe it, I'd describe it as pink bubbles. Like carnation scent bubbles. It tasted good, and I finally settled on pink grapefruit.

I opened my eyes to see Trish smirking at me. "So?"

I nodded to her, "I like it. Why were you acting so falsely innocent a minute ago?"

She smiled at me, "Because tonight, I'm going to teach you how to make it."

My mouth fell open. "Wait, what? No. Rossi says I could be a decent cook, but I'm too spastic. What if I wind up burning it or something?"

She rolled her eyes, "You'll be fine. And it's very difficult to burn fudge. Besides, I've eaten your pizzas. You are a good cook."

" _Some_ days." I stressed. "Other days I burn toast and turn microwave meals into charcoal."

She smirked, "Nobody's perfect. Now, we're going to eat my delicious alfredo, you're going to take a shower," She wrinkled her nose at me, "You smell like seaweed. So actually, I still have to make the garlic bread. Go get that shower now."

I bowed, throwing my arm out dramatically, ignoring the pain in my back. "As you wish, my queen."

She threw her head back, sweeping her long red over her shoulder. She stood straighter, with a regal air about her, and said royally, "Indeed. I am royal, aren't I?"

I grinned impishly, inching out of the kitchen, "Yep. A royal prat."

She gasped, reached for a spatula, and chucked it at me. I ducked out of the kitchen as it crashed into the wall where I had been standing.

Her yelling followed me up the stairs, and my laughter probably carried down to her.

Scorpions

When I walked back into the kitchen, a spatula predictably sailed towards me the moment my head was in range. I reached up for it, but it still smacked me square in the forehead.

I collapsed to the ground, clutching my head and moaning in pain. I heard a gasp, followed by a stifled laugh, and then, "Oh. I didn't mean to hit you there. Are you okay?"

I didn't reply, only hunching over more.

I heard her walk over to me and kneel down, "You walked into it though."

I looked up at her, blinking stars out of my eyes, and grinned at her, "So did you, your royal prattiness."

She brought her hand up, and I flinched, expecting a hit on the back of the head. Instead, her hand ruffled my hair, and pulled my head to her shoulder. I was surprised on the contact, and froze.

She sighed, "You're an idiot. You can welcome an embrace that isn't your brother you know."

My arms came up and hugged her back. "I do." I defended lightly.

She smacked my shoulder. "Sure you do. But it's always reserved. Everything you do around people is. No matter how free you act, you are always reserved. I wasn't lying earlier. You are my family, so get used to it. And actually fold into the contact, yeah?"

I nodded against her shoulder. "Okay." My stomach growled and she laughed, "But can we eat now?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Come on."

She stood up, tugging me with her. I rubbed my head ruefully, "You're mean with spatulas."

She put me in a half headlock as we walked over to the table, which was already set up. "Be thankful it wasn't the frying pan."

I shuddered dramatically, and she cuffed my head affectionately. "Sit down, before you hurt yourself."

I huffed. "I don't hurt myself. Other people do." I reproached as I sat down.

She picked up a serving knife and pointed it at me with a smirk, "Only because you have a big mouth, and don't hold back your comments." She fired back.

I pouted at her, giving her the best puppy dog eyes I could give. She rolled her eyes, but I saw the corners of her lips twist up fondly. She put some of the chicken alfredo onto my plate, then two pieces of garlic bread.

I grinned at her, " _Grazie, sorella._ "

She pointed her fork at me threateningly, "That better not have been an insult."

I held up my hands innocently. "If I told you, you'd hit me."

She scowled, pulling out her phone. My mouth fell open. "Are you seriously going to call Eric?"

She nodded, putting the phone up to her ear. "Why?! Its _two_ words, Trish." I moaned, hiding my eyes. I was a goner.

Then she started to laugh, putting the phone down. "Oh! Your face was _priceless!_ Did you really think I was going to call Eric. Please. I'm not that paranoid."

She shook her head, cutting her chicken open. I moaned again, banging my head onto the table. "I. Hate. You."

"No you don't. Now please, don't make the injury I gave you more prominent." Came a chiding reply.

I looked up, glared at her, before cutting into the delicious chicken.

Scorpions

After dinner was eaten and leftovers put away, I found myself bent over the stove, stirring what was supposed to become fudge.

I stared at the delicious smelling, boiling, mess, and wondered how on earth this would turn into the edible squares.

Trish was walking around, making a chocolate base for the fudge so make it extra chocolaty. And she was adding mint and vanilla to it now. I got caught up in how fast she was moving, that I stopped paying attention to the boiling pot on the stove.

Trish looked up, and gasped. "Kiley! Watch the-" While she was speaking, I had turned back to the pot and gasped, just as the biggest bubble yet rose up, and popped in my face. "Pot." Trish finished weakly as I quickly rubbed the burning liquid off of my nose and jaw. Thankfully, it hadn't burned me, just stung. So I guess I was lucky.

I looked up at Trish when I was done to find her stirring the pot, before pouring it into the base she had made earlier. She popped it into the freezer before turning to me.

"Are you okay?" She asked, approaching the sink and wetting a cloth with cold water.

I looked down at the chocolate mess on my hands and licked my lips. "Well, I'm covered in chocolate. I've been worse I suppose."

She laughed lightly, before taking my hands and getting the chocolate off. She moved to my face and I jerked backwards. She clicked her tongue, grabbed my jaw, and wiped the chocolate off with gentle swipes.

She checked her handiwork, ignoring my wide eyes. Spencer had been the only one to actually do something like that, in ever. Sure, Ziva had grabbed my jaw to make me look at something from time to time. But never that. And Spencer stopped doing it when I got into teenhood.

"There. I think I got it all. You still smell like raspberry chocolate though." She murmured, before throwing the cloth into the sink.

"Uh…. Thanks?" I said, still stunned at what had happened.

She nodded and looked at the stove, which surprisingly didn't have much chocolate on it.

"No problem. But, it's getting late. So we should go to bed." She replied before stretching.

We walked out of the kitchen with Athos behind us, and I grabbed her wrist hesitantly. "So, how did meeting with your family go?"

She smiled fondly, and a soft look bloomed on her face. "It was great. Gran is weak, but she seems to have gotten over the worst of it. Her voice was stronger than it had been over the phone, and she was laughing just like I remember her doing when I was a lass. My cousins were still their annoying, funny selves. Tomorrow Gran wants us all to go fishing." She frowned, "But most of my family made it clear that it was just for us. I don't know how they'll react to you being there."

I shrugged carelessly, releasing her wrist and trying to fight the hurt feeling. It was her family, not mine. I shouldn't have expected they'd want to meet me. "It's fine. Like I said earlier, I ran into Walter and his friends. They invited me out tomorrow to tour the town with them if I wasn't busy."

Her frown deepened, "But I promised you I would."

I threw an arm over her shoulder, giving her an easy going grin, "I'll be okay, Trish. Spend time with your family. That's what you came to do, right? We can just have friend time after you're done."

She bit her lip, looking up at me with serious green eyes, "You'll be okay?"

I smirked, "Obviously. I'll have Athos. He'll eat anyone who tries to hurt me."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Alright. I don't like it. But alright. Just be careful, okay?"

I nodded, grinning. "Of course. Now, get some sleep. You look like you need all the beauty rest you can get."

She smacked my side, and I laughed, ignoring the flare of pain from my back. Hopefully that would go away soon.

"Well, you do intelligence sleep." She mused thoughtfully.

My mouth fell open. _"Intelligence sleep?_ Wh-"

She patted my cheek with a sickly sweet smile. "Well duh. You're a moron who hasn't been blessed with good schooling."

She waltzed into her room, and when the door closed I realized just what she had said. I whistled lightly, shaking my head. "Dang. That was a low blow."

But I walked up the stairs with a grin on my face.

Scorpion

I was under water. I swam upwards, towards where the moon was, but before I broke the surface, my shoulders slammed into something hard. I thrust my hand out, smacking into something very hard.

 _Ice._

 _I was trapped underneath the ice._

I began struggling madly, hitting the ice repeatedly, trying to get out, to get air. My lungs burned from holding my breath so long; I heard yelling, a harsh ringing sound, and something barking. But it was through a haze. I was going to die under the ice.

I saw Peter's face in the water next to me, his expression frozen in fear and shock. A knife. My knife. Was sticking out of his chest. His expression turned to blaming.

I was going to die, just like he was dead.

Then something hard connected with my face, making me jerk backwards. Then I was being shaken, and I heard someone scream, "BREATH DAMMIT!"

I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. Then I was being rocked back and forth, my head in the crook of someone's shoulder, and light murmuring was near my ear. "Just breathe. You're okay. Just breathe. There you go. You're fine. You're fine. You utter moron. Why didn't you tell me your panic attacks were still a problem?"

"I didn't…. Think it….. was bad…" I choked out against her collarbone.

Her hand began running through my hair. "What triggered it? I know you have to have a trigger." She asked lightly, in a soothing tone that reminded me of my mom on her good days.

She was still rocking me back and forth, and I registered that a warm furry thing was on my legs. Athos was offering support too.

I swallowed thickly. "I don't know. I don't know." I muttered pathetically. "I've gotten better. The normal triggers don't work anymore. I can push past them. I don't know what brought it on."

But, maybe it was the dip in the cold water earlier. No. If it was that, I would have had the panic attack right after, or even in the water. The window was closed. Maybe the chocolate explosion earlier? That happened right before I went to sleep. But I wouldn't say that. Or Trish would feel stupidly guilty.

Trish bent over me, swinging her legs into the bed next to me. "Well, I'm not leaving now. So scoot over."

I straightened, trying to pull away from her. "You don't have to. I'm okay now."

She smacked me, tightening her hold. "Did you bring your violin with you?"

"Wh-"

"Did you bring your violin with you?" She pressed.

I shook my head, "No. Why?"

"Then you can't deal with this on your own. So shut up, and scoot over." She ordered.

I complied, and she laid down, pulling me with her. She turned my face into her shoulder gently, making me feel like I was hidden and protected from the rest of the world. She ran her fingers gently through my hair and began humming. It was soothing, and my erratic heartbeat calmed down. Soon I recognized the song and smirked.

"Are you humming smoke on the water?" I asked.

"Shush. Yes, I am. Now, get some sleep, _sorellina."_ She chided.

I was shocked for a second, before laughing. "You called Eric."

She rubbed my shoulder, "Yes. Now shut up. The feeling is mutual, just so you know. Eric was quite smitten by it. Said it was cute."

She began humming 'Smoke on the Water' again, and I soon fell asleep on her shoulder.

 **I know. I'm talking to you again. I just wanted to clarify. Sorella means big sister in Italian, and Sorellina means little sister. I figured that since Trish was an only child, she might have asked her parents for a baby sister, someone she could play with and teach all of her tricks to. Since that couldn't happen (All of her cousin's were older than here by the way), she would latch onto Kiley. And Kiley, who only ever had Spencer (even that was rare for a good portion of her life), would latch onto Trish, the person who promised a family. Much like the relationship between Ziva and Kiley. Hope you like it…**

 **Also, Smoke on the Water is an awesome song.**

 **ST**


	10. Nicknames and Pianos

**Okay, so, I made a mistake with Sylvester. I was calling him Sid instead of Sly. I corrected it now, sorry anyway! Enjoy!  
ST**

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my alarm blaring. I blearily remembered setting it for 6:00 so I'd have enough time to do everything and get to the Scorpion team on time.

Something jolted next to me and I jumped away. Unfortunately, I was near the edge of the bed. So I crashed to the ground below and groaned. A red head appeared on the edge of the bed, and Trish stared down at me sleepily. "Good morning. Do you normally start out on the ground? Also, it's like, 0 hundred here. Why do you have to be up so freaken early?"

I rolled my eyes, propping myself up on my elbows so I was eyelevel with her. "It's 6:00. When I was still in school I would get up at 5:00 to go run, and it became a habit. So consider yourself lucky I didn't set it for earlier."

She made a face and dramatically pinched her nose, "Dude. Brush your teeth please. I'll go see about making waffles since you have to get up so freaking early to explore."

I blew on her face just to spite her, and leapt to my feet. Athos raised his head at me, and wagged his tail in greeting. I rubbed his head as I passed and walked into the bathroom.

When I finished getting dressed, washing my face, and brushing me teeth, I walked downstairs. I still smelled strongly like raspberry chocolate.

Although, I wasn't complaining.

Trish made sure I ate before I raced out of the house after arming myself with anything I thought I might need and the fudge from last night (Which tasted awesome), and went to Westport with Athos in tow.

I got to the hotel just as the Scorpion team stepped out. Toby saw me first and beckoned me over with a wave and a grin.

When I got closer, he gave me a curious look and said, "Dude, you smell like chocolate."

I grinned bashfully. "Fudge fiasco explosion last night. Got all over me. I brought some of the fudge that stayed in the pan though."

He shrugged and took the Ziploc bag from me to dig around for the pieces. He passed it around to the others and bit into a piece.

A pleasant smile spread across his face and he grinned at me, "These are good! Is that mint and raspberry I detect?"

I nodded with a grin. "Yeah. My friend is a great cook, so she tried to teach me last night. It didn't go so great, but we did manage to save most of the fudge."

Paige smiled at me widely and put her hand on my shoulder, "You're a great cook."

I looked down, feeling heat creep up my neck. "Uh. Thanks."

She nodded to me and I saw Cabe bite into a piece of fudge, then raise his eyebrow at me. He nodded to me once, and I felt that was the only conformation that he liked them I would get.

Sly grinned happily when he bit into a piece, and Happy gave me a nod of appreciation.

Walter was the only one who hadn't gotten a piece, and I handed him the bag. "Want to try them, Walter?"

His lips turned down as he took a piece. He inspected it and looked at me. I raised an eyebrow mockingly, with a challenge on my smirking lips.

With a sigh, he put the whole piece into his mouth. I grinned happily while Toby choked.

"Sheesh Walter! Why don't you just swallow it?" He cried out.

Paige giggled as Walter chewed it. He gave me a nod, "Thank you." He forced out before turning to face all of us. "Okay. We'll split into groups. Happy, you, Paige, and Toby take this part of town." He pulled a map from his messenger bag and handed it to them.

"Sylvester, you and Cabe take this part of town." He handed Cabe another map.

Then he nodded to me, "Kiley and I will take this part." He held up a map and I looked at it. It was on the western part of town, near the port. It was a big chunk of area to cover before dark. Sounds like fun.

Everyone nodded and Cabe looked at us seriously, "Make sure you stay together. If you find something strange, call the rest of us and we can check it out." He turned to Walter and I, "And you two. Please try not to piss anyone off."

I gave him a mock salute and he grimaced. "If you do anyway, both of you stick together and run fast."

I exchanged a look with Walter, and he had a small smirk on his face.

"Thank you, Cabe. I can be a responsible adult occasionally." Walter informed him seriously, with just a bit of slyness thrown in.

Toby sputtered again. "Did _the_ Walter O'brian just make a joke?"

I smirked, biting back a laugh, and Cabe looked skyward muttering something under his breath. He shook his head, then walked off with Sly in tow.

With that, the rest of us parted as well.

Scorpions

I sighed, throwing myself into a plush chair near the window. Walter and I had made it halfway through our part of town before the sun started to set and Cabe called us to tell us to meet back at the hotel.

Walter and I were the first ones back. Walter was currently pacing back and forth across the room. He'd reach one wall, then turn and walk to the other. Athos was watching him, head turning to follow him, with mild interest. I watched him before sighing again.

We were currently in the lobby, which held a big fire which was already roaring with heat, lots of plush, comfortable chairs and couches, several tables, and a big black piano.

With a huff, I rose to my feet and walked over to the piano before I began pacing with Walter.

I sat down at the piano, wondering for a minute what I should play. Beethoven's 5th symphony seemed appropriate, so I began to play that.

I immersed myself into the music, thinking about what we had been doing the entire day. We had walked around town, trying our best to look inconspicuous, and got as close as we could to anything that looked the least bit suspicious. Because of Cabe's request, we agreed not to talk to anyone unless we absolutely needed to besides each other. I had fiddled with the walkie talkie thingy to try and broaden its range, but to no avail. Walter had his own, so he told me I could do whatever I wanted with mine. I don't think he was aware of the explosive capabilities I could make it capable of. Spencer would probably have a heart attack if he knew the free range I had been given with an electronic device that could potentially blow up.

With a small, devious, smile, I pushed everything out of my mind and focused on my fingers gliding smoothly over the keys.

When I finished with the 5th symphony, I moved on to something more movie related. That is to say, He's A Pirate. I had always loved that piece of piano music, and had gleefully learned it within two days.

When that song drew to a close, I almost started Americana, but someone plopping down into the seat next to me shook my out of my head. I looked over to see Toby sitting next to me, "I had no clue you could play."

I smirked at him, "Considering I've known you for two days. I don't expect you to."

His mouth opened and closed, before he resolutely looked away. I snickered and started the Americana theme.

I loved this theme since the first time I heard it, and thrown myself headfirst into memorizing the whole thing in one sitting. Granted, it was three days before I could play it well; but hey, no-one's perfect.

While I played, I fought to ignore Toby stares, and suddenly Sly's too, who had appeared next to the piano. Eventually, Paige appeared in my line of vision. So I assumed that everyone was here now, and listening to me play.

My fingers almost faltered, but I resolutely kept playing until the song ended.

I jumped when Paige's fingers landed on my shoulder and squeezed, "That was beautiful." She said with a smile.

I ducked my head, a blush creeping up my neck, and muttered, "Er. Thanks."

"Who taught you how to play?" Came the gentle inquiry.

I rubbed the back of my neck subconsciously, "Um. My brother, Spencer. My specialty was always the violin, I was taught by my mother, but I was always enchanted by the piano too. Spencer broke his hand one year, and I begged him to teach me how because my mother loved the sound of a piano. He taught me how to do Mozart first, since I had always preferred running than walking."

I turned around to Happy frowning. "How does that tie into the piano?"

I grinned, "You know the saying 'You have to walk before you can run'? I've always enjoyed blowing that saying to bits. Spencer knew that, he's the same way, so he taught me difficult first. All the other stuff came easier after that. That's how he taught me to read too. He gave me Moby Dick, and helped me learn to read it. Part of the reason I'm smart today is because of my brother, wanting to be like him, and wanting to impress him." I looked down, "That being said. I am not my brother. He's shy, polite, respectful, and knows when to be quite. I'm loud, have a false bravado, slightly shy and anti-social, I can be polite and respectful but mostly choose not to, and I have no sense of self preservation. That is to say, sarcasm comes before admitting defeat."

Tony grinned at me and clapped my shoulder, "Sounds familiar! Don't worry about it, my fine friend. Either way, I'm calling you La Diamantina. The famous violinist and singer of Rome! Dia for short."

I laughed, "Alright. But only if I get to call you Doctor Phil."

He made a face, "Good heavens, no! Think of something with that massive brain of yours please!"

I snickered, "Alright. Fine. Buzz kill."

He shot me a cocky grin, "The finest."


	11. Dynamic Duo

We had abandoned the beautiful piano and went to Paige and Happy's room again to discuss the case.

No one had found anything noteworthy, no scanner went off, no-one stuck out in a crowd, and nothing was there. But, we had still had more ground to cover tomorrow. For now, we'd wait the night out and try again tomorrow.

In the time that Cabe was talking, Trish had texted me that she had to attend a family dinner. The text was…. Interesting.

 _Sorry Kiles! Gotta stay and chat with fam, my cousins pushed me into the lake, my aunt made cookies, and I'm getting a weird feeling from my uncle. You have to teach me that freaky 'body reading' thing you do, or just come and preform your freaky 'body reading' thing. Maybe show them card tricks or whatever. Anyway, we're having a fam dinner. You gonna be OK?_

After informing her that I would be fine, and that reading people was relatively easy, she responded with:

 _It's freaky. You know it. I know it. Athos knows it. The freaky NCIS team knows it. The BAU team knows it. And you're new friends probably know it too._

I rolled my eyes and responded _Okay, first off, the NCIS team is not freaky. Second, just because you don't understand it doesn't make it freaky. It makes it unknown, and it's human nature to fear what they don't understand. Anyway, what is he acting like?_

Cabe was talking to Toby now, asking him to see if he can go to cafés around town and people watch.

 _I don't know how to describe it really. A lot of jittery behavior, antsy, you know? He was wringing his hands a lot too, and kept exchanging glances with his wife. He's the youngest son, and usually quieter than everyone else, but he still talked loud. Now he's barely whispering. Plus, my Gran glowers at him every chance she gets, and that's unusual. He used to sit right next to her, now he sits at the other end of the table, and avoids eye contact. His wife is icy as always, never liked her much, but this is kinda ridiculous._

I bit my lip. Toby was responding to Cabe with a sarcastic, "Oh yeah, let me just watch potential murderers and see if they like being stared at while I'm completely alone."

 _He could have a guilty conscious, did he do anything to your grandmother lately?_

Cabe sighed and shook his head. "Fine, take Reid with you then."

 _Not that I know of. But it kind of looks like he did. Normally though, when she's angry with him, she just gives him a disappointed look. This is complete loathing._

I didn't notice the silence as I replied

 _See? People reading isn't too difficult. I have no clue what could have happened. You know them better than me._

 _Oh hush you._ Came the reply.

That's when I noticed the silence. I picked my head up to see all of them staring at me expectantly.

I ran through the conversation that had happened around me, figured out why they were staring, and nodded. "Sure. I'm game. Athos will be with us, and he's extremely protective. So, if we do get attacked by an angry would be murderer that doesn't like being stared at, he could buy us time and we could get away."

Athos looked up at me and tilted his head. "With Athos obviously." He put his head back down.

Cabe nodded. "Alright then. We'll have to change the teams around. Sly with still be with me, but we'll take Happy with us. Walter and Paige can go together tomorrow."

Toby wiggled his eyebrows at Walter, who resolutely looked away.

I smirked, and said, "So, if Toby and I do manage to piss someone off, which is extremely likely considering neither of us think before we speak, who should we call first?"

Walter and Cabe both said, "Me." At the same time, and looked at each other levelly.

Toby exchanged a look with me and stage whispered, "Uh oh. The parents are arguing again."

His 'whisper' caused Paige to snicker, and Happy and Sly to grin. I laughed at Walter and Cabe's shocked expression, and bumped Toby's offered fist.

"Maybe we shouldn't put you two together." He muttered crossly.

Toby slung an arm over my shoulder, "Nuh uh. You already gave the order, boss man. So we must carry out said order."

I nodded, "Totally. Wouldn't want to disobey a direct order, now would we, Toby?"

He shook his head ruefully, "Alas. We cannot, my little protégée."

Cabe sighed, and Paige grinned at us and shook her head.

"It was bad enough with one of you." Cabe said before shaking his head and continuing, "For now though, let's get some grub."

Toby tightened his arm and asked, "Are you joining us tonight or do you have to run off again?"

I thought about Trish's text, then shook my head. "I'll join you guys tonight."

Toby crowed, and fist bumped me again. "Awesome, we could start planning world domination now."

I gave him an evil grin as response, "Have you ever heard of a glitter bomb?"

Scorpions

Toby was bent over the table, shoulders shaking with laughter, and the others looked at us curiously. I had just shown Toby the glitter bomb prank that I had pulled on my brother, Morgan, and Garcia. When Toby started to calm down, he looked up at me with tears in his eyes and snorted out, "We gotta do that!"

I snickered, "It was very worth getting grounded."

He laughed again, "I can imagine!"

Paige reached out for my phone with a polite, "May I see?"

Toby grabbed my phone before she could get it and shook his head violently, "What? And spoil a golden opportunity? No way!"

I just shrugged helplessly at Paige. She gave me a small smile and nodded, going back to her chair.

I gave Toby a flat look and he sighed before bringing my head closer and whispering, "If we're going to start a prank war, we do not want the others to have ammunition. And if Paige knows about it, Walter will know about it. And if Walter knows about it, Sly will know about it. And if Sly knows about it, Cabe and Happy will too. And if they know about it, they won't let it start to begin with. Therefore, we don't tell them, we get to pull an amazing prank on them using your idea and my talents, then we can sit back on the sidelines and watch the glorious display before running as fast as we possibly can in the other direction." His hands flew out to demonstrate his point.

I rolled my eyes, but gave him a devious smirk. "Tell me, Toby, can you do magic tricks?"

He matched my grin and winked at me, "Oh, my friend, you have no idea. With you and I teamed up, the world doesn't stand a chance."

I smiled at him, "It will have to adapt quickly to match us."

He nodded conspiratorially, "The dynamic duo, that'd be us."

I offered my fist, which he happily hit. "They won't know what hit them." I said impishly. I cast a glance towards our oblivious companions, and shared a maniacal look with Toby.


	12. Bang Bang

I walked down an alley, traversing carefully through the darkness with Athos beside me, and thought about my new friends. It would be fun working with them full time, and I could start with them a lot sooner than I would be able to at NCIS. I thought about Ziva, Tony, McGee, Gibbs, Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy. How much fun it is sparing with Ziva, the music sessions I have with Abby, the sarcastic verbal battles with Tony, the COD games I play with Tim, Ducky's gentle instruction, Jimmy's kindness and surprising wit, the small, proud smirks Gibbs gives that make me feel impossibly warm. How could I just give that up? They've made it clear I could have a spot on their team, they'd even fight for me. That family could be mine, permanently.

I stopped. I had already made my decision. However, it wouldn't hurt to keep the Scorpion option open. But I think that NCIS was a better fit for me.

With a nod, I started to walk again.

But before I could get far, I tensed. Someone else was there.

Athos saw me do so and was instantly on alert. I held my breath, listening intently to the darkness surrounding me. I heard a footstep, so quiet that I almost didn't notice it. A click that sounded like a clip being inserted into a gun. My hand inched toward one of my knives. A rustle of fabric moving, the click of the safety.

I reached down to Athos and grabbed his collar, waited, counted to three, then lunged to the right as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the air. I could hear it zing around the empty alley as I ran back the way I had come. If I could get to the hotel, maybe the shooter would leave me alone. At any rate, it would be in a more public place.

My footsteps faltered. There would be innocent civilians there. I couldn't lead the shooter back…. But I could send Athos there.

He knew Toby's scent, he could go get Toby. He was intelligent, he knew the way to the hotel better than I did, as he showed earlier.

"Athos! Go get Toby!" I commanded.

He snarled, but took off through a branch in the alley.

When he left, I ducked around a corner and stopped to catch my breath. I chanced a peak around the corner, and immediately pulled back as a bullet tore a trail through the brick.

Next time, I pay for better parking closer to the hotel.

I turned and sprinted down the alley. I could hear my pursuer clomping after me, and a few more bullets struck the walls next to me. I ducked away from the brick spray and ran faster.

Soon, I came upon a dead end, with only a metal ladder leading upwards. I sighed and leapt at it. It was a good 6 feet off the ground, so I was surprised when I managed to climb up to it and grab the bottom rung. Apparently, adrenalin can make you into a crazy parkour master.

I climbed the ladder as quietly as I could, and leapt onto the roof building on top. I waited a few beats, until I heard someone else trying to climb the wall to reach the roof.

I lunged forward and began running on the flat roof. I heard someone crash onto the roof behind me, and sped up. I had zero cover here, and, though it was difficult to hit someone while running, if they stopped, they had a clear shot at me. I would rather not get turned into a firing target.

I looked around to the surrounding roofs and grimaced. The closet roof was about 10 feet away from me. Difficult, but doable. I had been in track after all, and my record for the long jump was 8 feet.

I had enough momentum though, so this should be relatively easy. Hopefully. Maybe. If not, it was about a 30 foot drop. That would either break my legs, or kill me outright. A cakewalk, right?

But, it was either: take a gamble and jump, or get shot. It was a 'pick your poison' type thing, and I didn't like either chance. I sped up though, and thought through my options as the ledge of the roof loomed closer and closer. Sometimes, flips would help you gain momentum through the air. However, I think that my best chance would be to jump, throw my feet forward, land, then flip and keep running.

The roof I was running towards had better cover, with big bulky fans coming up out of the top, and even a doorway. If I had to guess, it was a hotel roof or some other type of small apartment building. I might be able to kick the door in with my remaining strength and rush down before the shooter could get to me, then get to a window, jump out the fire escape, and get to another building or another alleyway until I figure out how to get to the team's hotel without involving civilians.

I was only firing on half of my brain capacity right now, and I blame that for the stupid thing I did now.

I got to the ledge of the building, planted one foot, and leapt into the air.

The momentum I had built up carried me across the 12 foot gap, and my heel hit the side of the building. Not the side of the roof. The side of the building.

There was a terrifying moment where I thought I was going to die, until I pitched my weight forward, did a clumsy front shoulder roll, and leapt to my feet. I continued running until I got the door thingy. I tried the handle and it didn't open, so I backed up (I could hear shots hitting the roof behind me), and shoved my foot forward. I had no clue how much this was going to hurt, or how on earth I actually managed to kick the lock out of the wood, but I did.

The door flew open, and my foot lit up with pain. I gasped, but hobbled inside as quickly as I could. I slammed the door shut again, which did absolutely nothing if my attacker someone managed to follow me onto this roof, and chanced a check of my ankle. It was throbbing, but overall I don't think it was broken. Instead, I guessed that it was sprained, and I should elevate it. As soon as I got away from a potential murderer of course.

I staggered down the stairs, almost falling several times, until I got to a main floor.

I was right in the assumption that this was a hotel building. There were numbers on the doors, and an elevator at the end of the hallway. A big window was next to the door I burst out of, so I rushed towards it and looked out. A fire escape was there, but it was a floor down. Which meant I either had to waste time going down the elevator, or drop out of this window.

With a sigh, I pushed the window open and swung one leg out. I sat on the ledge, then pushed off on the wall.

I dropped the 10 feet and slammed into the fire escape. I moaned as the shockwave sent tremors through my legs, making the sprain hurt. I stood up, and almost fell back down. Scratch that, _everything_ hurt. My back had started to ache again too. After all day of walking around, now the injury started to hurt.

Come on! I wasn't even in America now! And I _still_ was getting chased around by a maniac! This was ridiculous, and I was starting to get the impression that someone in a much higher position loved putting me in situations like this just for their own giggles.

I forced myself up, and staggered down the stairs. Flight after flight went by, until I hit the ladder. With a sigh, I swung down the ladder, and dropped another 10 feet.

After this drop, I decided to give myself a break, and dropped to the ground to lean into a corner next to a thankfully empty dumpster.

I brought my knees up to my chest and sucked in deep breaths. I tapped out one of Beethoven's symphonies onto my knee to calm myself down, and used the 15 second method. Breath in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, then release for 5 seconds. Repeat until your heart rate slows down to a normal beat. The shrink I saw recommended it to help with my panic attacks.

Once I had calmed down and regained my breath, I began to try and convince myself to get up. However, my body was giving a good argument as to why I **should not** move right now. Everything hurt, my ankle was sprained, and there was no one shooting as me right now. My brain was attempting to convince my body that the shooter could come back at any minute now and find me.

I fought with myself for a few more seconds, trying vainly to gather the strength to move, until I heard the barking of a dog. Specifically, my dog.

Athos' barking got closer and closer to me, and soon, it sounded like he was in the same alley as I was in. I could hear a lot of feet following him, and hoped that Cabe was there with his gun.

Suddenly, Athos appeared in front of the dumpster, and barked happily at me, wagging his tail. I smiled tiredly at him and muttered, "Good boy."

Cabe appeared behind him and sighed in relief. "What are you doin, kid? Athos came n found us before we got back to the hotel, barking his head off! Wouldn't stop until we followed him."

I sucked in a breath, "There was a shooter. Found me in an alley. Chased me to a dead end. Got on a ladder, got on a roof, jumped 12 feet to another roof. I almost fell. Then I kicked a door down, my ankle _hurts_ by the way. I got into a hotel building, dropped to a fire escape, dropped to the ground, and took a break here because _everything_ hurts."

Cabe's expression got hard and surprisingly cold while I was talking. "Where is the shooter now?"

I shrugged, "He might be on the roof still, or he might be in the hotel building. All I know is that I lost him."

Cabe sighed and shook his head, before offering me his hand.

I took it, and he hauled me to my feet. When I stood up, I noticed that everyone else was there, staring at me worriedly.

"Can we leave now? Before the shooter realizes that I'm not on or in a building?" I asked weakly.

That got them into motion, and they began to walk back into the street. I tried to follow, and nearly fell onto my face because of how weak I was right now. I had used up my strength and adrenaline earlier, and now had nothing left to keep me going.

Cabe noticed me pitch forward and grabbed my arm. I panted and shivered, "Sorry." I croaked. "But my legs aren't really happy with me as much as I've abused them in the past 20 minutes."

Cabe nodded, "You'll be fine. Walter! Get over here and help me."

Walter came to my other side, and they both grabbed my arms and slung them over their shoulders. They wrapped their arms around my waist and took most of my weight off of my legs. It was uncomfortable, and clumsy, but we managed to go forward.

I staggered along as best I could, and we eventually made it onto the sidewalk. Thankfully, most people were either really drunk at this time of night, or asleep. So no one bothered us as we walked by as fast as possible.

Toby kept glancing back at me, and Sly was wringing his hand and jumping at shadows. I noticed that Paige walked close to Walter, and Happy stayed next to Toby. Athos padded beside Sly, and gave him comfort since he couldn't get to me very easily.

Using this method, we made it back to the hotel quickly. We used the elevator to get up to their floor, and traversed the halls until we got to the same room we had used as base before.

Once we got inside, Cabe and Walter directed me to the couch, and pushed me gently onto it.

I groaned softly, and Toby materialized at my side. "Let me see your leg. Kicking down a door takes a lot of power, and practice." He had adopted the 'doctor tone' that Lucas sometimes did when one of us got sick.

I let him push my leg around and take off my boots. When he saw the knives inside them, he raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged, "Friend gave them to me. Seems like a waste not to use them."

He shook his head and picked up my sore foot. He pulled of the sock and whistled lowly. "Youch! You severely sprained it. Jumping around and pretended to be batman is not working for you."

The area around my ankle was literally black with the bruising I inflicted on it, and the sole and pad of my foot was also severely bruised.

"That might feel better tomorrow with a lot of ice, rest, and elevation. But don't put any more pressure on it tonight, capiche?" Toby gave me a meaningful look and I nodded weakly.

"Yeah. I wasn't planning on moving from this very comfortable couch anyway." I responded tiredly.

Paige appeared next to me with a bottle of water and handed it to me after taking the cap off. "So what happened?"

I took slow sips as I explained, when I was finished, Cabe was scowling fiercer than Hotch normally did.

"And you're sure you didn't know the guy?" He asked.

I shrugged, taking another sip of the water. "I really couldn't see him to know whether or not I knew him."

He nodded, "Well, we're gonna have to be careful from here on out. Clearly we're close to finding out who the culprit is if they're coming after us now. Don't go anywhere without a partner, and always have your phone on you. We could request local PD's to help us out if need."

I shook my head, "They won't be able to help us. The shooter didn't actually hit me, there were no cameras solidifying that I was being pursued, and we aren't locals. They can't do much about it other than put it alert."

He sighed, "Just….. be careful tomorrow. The faster we catch these guys, the faster we can go home safely."

A nod was shared around the room and I sighed, throwing my arm over my eyes and tilting my head back. "Just our luck that computer hackers would have guns."

Toby snorted, "Trust me, that is not the worst that could happen."

I peaked at him, "Please don't elaborate. Or we're screwed."

He opened his mouth, but Happy smacked his head, knocking his hat into my lap, and gave him a look that shut him up faster than anything else could've, I'm sure.


	13. Headless Waltz

After texting Trish that I was staying with my friends that night, and getting an answering text of _'Same. Fam is staying under the stars 2nite',_ I passed out on the couch with Toby putting ice on my elevated foot and the others talking over me.

The next morning, I was woken up by a loud Voltaire song, Headless Waltz I think. I scrambled for my phone, vaguely remembering that Abby had gotten a hold of my phone and changed all ringtones for her to that song. I finally found my phone on the coffee table, and picked it up.

It was a video call from Abby.

I clicked 'answer' and was immediately assaulted with, "What are you doing in Ireland?! Why didn't you tell me?! Why are you trying to do parkour!? Was that even real?! You kicked down a door! Gibbs is mad at you!" I dropped my phone to my lap in shock at the loud volume.

Happy muttered a grumpy, "Will you shut up!"

And Paige sat up out of her bed and started to shuffle towards me asking, "Who is that?"

I picked the phone up again and looked at the too cheerful early riser named Abigail on my phone. She was in her lab by the looks of it, and glaring at me with her hands on her hips.

My mouth opened and closed before I thought of a witty reply. "I know that you are all knowing, Abby. But how did your ever seeing eye find me in Ireland?"

She glared at me, which would have been scarier had it not been Abby, and she had been in front of me instead of across a screen. "How did I find you?!" She screeched. "Well, a friend of mine in Europe found a video, filmed on a bad camera phone by a guy taking an evening stroll on his hotel roof, and it depicted a girl, running on a rooftop, getting shot at! The video was a bit grimy, but I cleared up the image of both the shooter and the girl, and lo and behold! There is Kiley Reid! Who, by the way, I thought was still in the US, being SAFE and not JUMPING 12 FEET FROM ONE ROOF TO ANOTHER OVER A 30 FOOT DROP! You're an idiot! And you gave me a heart attack! Especially when you didn't pick the phone up immediately! The 'Crazy Parkour' video ended after you kicked down the door, your shooter followed you, and the guy videoing decided to leave! What were you thinking?! Why are you in Ireland!? Why didn't you tell us?! And why are you getting shot at?!"

Paige had decided to get coffee instead of listening to Abby shout at me, and I was halfway wishing for support right now.

I gulped, I could tell by her posture and facial expression that I had scared Abby, badly. "I'm sorry… For not telling you and for scaring you, Abbs. My friend had a family problem in Ireland, do you remember Trisha?" At her nod, I continued, "Well, she didn't want to come alone. She thought her grandma was dying, and wanted support. But, when I got here, her family didn't want me to get involved, so I toured the town instead. If it helps, I didn't ask to get shot at, Abbs."

She sighed, shaking her head and pinching her nose. I could see her hands shaking and felt guilty. "I really am sorry." I added mournfully.

Abby took a deep breath. "Alright. It's fine. I'm fine. You're fine. You aren't dead. It's okay. I still told the rest of the team about your little adventure, so expect a call from one of them, or even all of them. But why were you getting shot at to begin with?"

With a deep breath, I explained to her everything that had been happening lately. From meeting Scorpion, to being offered a spot in the team, to working a case with them during my stay.

When I was done, she was 'wearing a hole through the floor'. She looked up at me, expression serious, and asked, "Did you accept the spot on the team?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I thought that the option was still open to join NCIS."

She rushed at the computer, grabbing both ends like she could grab my shoulders and shake me. "Of course it's still open! All of us told you that! So don't you dare accept the other team! Unless you really, really want to. But even then!"

I laughed, "Relax, Abby. Still, it wouldn't hurt to help them out."

She shook her head, "No, it isn't a bad idea in theory. But you're still getting shot at! You should be here! Helping me on this computer! Not an ocean away where my little cupcake is getting shot at!"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Cupcake?"

She waved a hand at me, "Shut up. I like it, and so do you. So shut up and-"

"Suck it up, Cupcake?" I asked teasingly.

She tried to glare at me again, but it dissolved into a smile. "Ugh. Why can't I stay mad at you? It's frustrating!" She jumped up and down in her lab and I snickered.

"Abby, how many Caff-Pows have you had this morning?" I asked innocently.

Abby looked around her lab, "Uh, 5? No, 6."

I sighed, "I would tell you to lay off them for a while, but I have no clue what time it is there. It's 6:00 am here."

She raised an eyebrow, "It's 1:00 here."

"Wow, so yeah. Nevermind. You're allowed to have 6 of them before you reach 1 in the afternoon."

She snickered, "Kiles? 1:00 am."

My mouth fell open. "An all nighter again?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Some psycho won't let me sleep with Burt!"

I ran through the list of names, "Your farting hippo?"

She nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! But, I brought him with me!" She shook the gray hippo in front of the camera and I laughed.

"Anyway, time to get serious. I can try to identify the guy shooting at you, and try to help you with the case. But I need to ask Ducky for some of his Interpol contacts, and if he still as them, because the shooter is not an American citizen, and he isn't a murderer on American soil, so my hands are basically tied here. I'll still try to help you out though." She wrung her hands and began typing on her computer.

"Thanks, Abbs. I'd appreciate anything you can give me right now. Could you send me a pic of the shooter so I can keep an eye out for him?"

She nodded and tapped something, "Done." My phone buzzed in testament. She got closer to the screen, almost touching it with her forehead. "Kiley, promise me that you won't go anywhere without someone."

I nodded, "I promise. I've got Athos with me too, and next time I'll just sick him on whoever is trying to shoot me."

Abby nodded, "Okay. Just so long as you'll be safe I won't send the cavalry after you. But come home safe too, okay?"

I nodded, "Of course, Abby. We've got a lot more adventures to have before I kick the bucket."

She giggled and saluted me, "Totally. I've got to go now, just wanted to make sure you weren't dead. Keep an eye out for that shooter, okay? It sounds like you're getting close if they sent someone after you."

I saluted her, and with one last smile, she disconnected the link.

I sighed, looked at the unassuming picture of the shooter that Abby sent me, as well as my parkour video, and let my phone fall to my lap. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, propping my feet back onto the coffee table. Someone must have thrown a blanket over me last night, because I was pleasantly warm. Plus, I could hear my dog sleeping next to the couch.

I was drifting back to sleep when someone tapped my shoulder. I looked up to see Paige smiling at me. "Morning. Who was that?" She asked as she sat next to me with a cup of coffee in her hand.

I yawned, "My friend, Abby. She works for NCIS. Apparently, my little adventure last night was filmed by someone, and she saw my batman impersonation, yelled at me for scaring her, and sent me a picture of the shooter, as well as the video." I picked up my phone and opened the email. I pushed the phone into her hand, and she watched with a frown.

When the video ran through, she wrapped a warm arm around my shoulders and squeezed tightly. "I'm glad you're okay. That looked scary, and I wasn't even jumping."

I gave her a go-lucky grin and shrugged, secretly loving the warmth she offered, "To be honest, it was terrifying. I thought I was going to fall, but I didn't. I lived to run another day. Little things, you know?"

She nodded, "Yeah. But let's not make batman impressions permanent, okay?"

I saluted her, "Definitely. My legs feel better today, but I'm still very sore."

She squeezed my shoulder again, before pulling me closer to her side and taking a sip of coffee.

"Well, we know what the shooter looks like. And we've got the evidence Cabe needs to put a bolo out on the shooter." She said after another sip.

I nodded, feeling extremely sleepy with the warmth of the blanket, and the warmth of Paige. "And you look like you want to go back to sleep." Her tone was amused, and held a hint of laughter in it.

I nodded sleepily and murmured, "I'm a growing teenager. Most of what we do is sleep and eat."

Paige laughed and began to run her fingers through my hair. It felt soooo good too.

"My son, Ralph, he likes it when I do this. He says it makes his brain shut up sometimes, or it helps him think clearer." She said softly.

I smiled, "My mom used to do it to me too. Spencer loved it, he would almost purr. She do it to us when she'd read us a book to makes us go to sleep. She said that we wouldn't calm our racing thoughts without it. How old is Ralph?"

I could hear Paige smiling, "He's 10, and already a mini genius. The doctor's told me he had autism, but he was just incredibly smart. I didn't realize that my son was smarter than me until Walter showed up at the restaurant I used to work. Since then, Ralph has friends who understand him, and I have a great job with no shortage of excitement."

I readjusted myself so my head was pillowed in Paige's lap and asked, "What's your role in the team?"

"I help them understand 'normal' people. I talk to normal people for them, like an ambassador I guess."

I hummed, "That's a pretty important job."

Her fingers stilled momentarily, "Really? I've never thought so. They could on fine without me."

I shook my head. "No way. When you have a high IQ, it gets difficult to associate with people, and make friends. Especially when they can't understand you, or you them, and they don't have enough patience to translate everything you say or do. People bully you because of your natural talents, or manipulate you for their own personal gain. We can find refuge among others like us, but it's nice to know when someone, as you say, normal understands us and takes the time to try and understand what we say and do. When they do that, they are no longer 'normal', they are extraordinary in our eyes. I was lucky enough to find other people that understand who I am, and don't try to use me for their own gain. So you are more important than you could believe, Paige."

She laughed lightly, "You have no idea how much I needed to hear that."

I smirked tiredly, "M a psychologist and profiler, you should not doubt my epic skills." I gave a mock brag. She ruffled my hair before going back to massaging my skull. I hummed again, "Plus, you are a really good massager."

She laughed and pressed a chaste kiss to my head, "Go to sleep, Kiley."

I yawned and closed my eyes, "Yes ma'am." I was asleep in seconds.

 **Okay, so this was a very fluffy story after going all GUN HO! on you in the last one with the shooter and the EPIC parkour which I would love to do, probably kill myself in the process though.**

 **Anyway, I've already given you a list of suspects to the bad guys. Plus more clues to tie the whole thing together. I'll give you a few things to ask yourself.**

 **Why was Trish's grandmother super sick, but suddenly recovered once Trish came back?**

 **Why is her uncle acting so weird?**

 **Where is her long lost uncle, and why haven't they heard from him?**

 **What ties does Kiley have with the shooter or the mugger?**

 **Trish mentioned her family owning a really big, wealthy property, does that have something to do with this?**

 **Figure it out before the conclusion manages to surprise you. ;)**

 **ST**


	14. Sleeping Beauty

I woke up to the sound of voices. I could vaguely make out Paige telling someone else, maybe Walter, everything that I had told her, and showing her the video on my phone.

I opened my eyes and sat up quickly, blinking rapidly to wake up more. I looked around the room to see that everyone on the team was here, and they were all staring at me.

"Uh. Hi?" I tried, before standing up and looking around for my boots.

When I stood up, I crouched, testing my legs, before moving around. I pretended not to notice Toby tracking my movements as I grabbed my boots and bent over to put them on.

My back felt so much better now, and my legs weren't the slightest bit swollen. I felt good.

When I finished lacing up my boots, I jumped up and down a few times, trying to get the energy out before I started running around the room. I caught the bemused looks from the others and shrugged, "I usually go running at home."

Athos lifted his head hopefully, and I laughed. Toby rolled his eyes and said, "I'll take the two puppies to the park. We could look for the shooter bad guy there, then go back to her friend's house to get her more clothes."

I feigned shock and clapped my hands over my heart, "I didn't know you could make sensible plans, Toby! Brava!"

Toby just shook his head at me, then raised two pens in his hand. I recognized them, they were the ones Abby had given me. He must have snuck them out of my boots.

"Question. Why do you have pens in your boots? To write whenever you wish? There were knives in there. I know that the pen is the mightiest weapon and all, but who are you going to scare with these things?" He asked as he waved them around.

I smiled at him and crossed the room. I took one of the pens from his hand, and pointed at the remaining one. "Push that button, Toby." I instructed without a hint of impishness in my tone.

He rolled his eyes, "So I can write on you?" But he pushed the button.

The back of the pen flew into the air since he didn't know to catch it, revealing the dagger inside.

He dropped the pen in surprise, and I caught the dagger with my fingers. I lifted it up again after I picked up the back of the pen and clicked it on. I twirled the pen in my hands and smirked at a terrified Toby, who was clutching his hand like he'd been burned. "I suppose that it can be mightier than the sword given the right circumstances. Don't you?"

I put both pens back into my boots and crossed my arms at him.

He took a deep breath and asked, "Remind me never to piss you off."

I laughed, then whistled for Athos. He came bounding to my side and nearly bowled me over pressing himself against my legs. He curled around me and I ran my fingers through his warm fur. "Do you want to go for a run, buddy?"

He barked and leapt up onto me. He was big enough now, that his front paws could go to my shoulders if he stretched out. As it was, his huge paws came to rest on my hips. He barked happily and wagged his tail.

I laughed, then pointed to Toby. "Thank him!"

Athos turned and jumped onto Toby, knocking him to the ground easily. He barked happily, licked a flustered Toby, then bounded to the door with his tail wagging.

I laughed and held out a hand to Toby. "He'll love you forever now."

Toby snorted and took my hand, wiping his cheek off as I pulled him to his feet. "Right. Because I wanted to be wearing dog drool for the rest of my life. Thanks."

I snickered, took my phone back from Paige, waved to everyone, then jogged to the door to let Athos out. Toby trailed behind us as we ran outside.

Scorpions

I had shed my jacket and outer shirt to run in my tank top and jeans. It was chilly outside, but the cold felt good on my sore muscles. I started out slowly, but picked up speed. Soon, Athos and I had lapped the entire park.

I collapsed on the park bench where Toby was sitting and Athos laid down next to his legs.

He looked over at me and tossed my shirt to me. "See anyone?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I saw a mother taking a stroll with her baby, a father playing with his son, and an old lady feeding the ducks. You?"

He sighed and shook his head, "Nada. There wasn't anyone who even remotely set off any alarms. So either these bad guys are really good actors, which will make our job so much harder, or they aren't here."

I nodded, slipping my shirt over my head. He sighed and looked at me, "We should go back to your house so you can get clothes."

I nodded and stood up, slinging my jacket over me again.

Scorpions

I sighed as I sipped the iced chocolate coffee that looked and tasted more like a really good milkshake than coffee. There had been absolutely nothing to note today. And Toby and I had gone to 5 different cafés around town, yet still, nothing.

I had even pressed my luck and gone down an alley with Toby in tow. Still nada.

I was wondering if I had to be alone to be targeted. Would the same go for the others?

Toby got up with a sigh and looked at his watch, "Well, we can try one more before we have to meet up back at the hotel. Ready to go?"

I nodded and stood up. Athos bounded up as well, and looked up at me expectantly.

Toby started to walk forward, and I followed behind him, throwing my empty coffee into the trash bin as I passed.

I ran after Toby, relishing the fact that I can run again. This morning, walking had gotten painful because I was stretching the sore muscles after I ran. But, after hours of walking around and not acting like I was in pain, the pain went away and I could run again. Hopefully it didn't do the back and forth thing again, or I would start crying.

Toby just shoots me a bemused smirk and shakes his head. Half the time, I think he knows exactly what I'm thinking, the other half is me wondering how he can think at all.

The sun had started to set as we walked to the final coffee shop, and area near the docks. So close, in fact, to the sea that I can smell the salt water, and the wind that dances along the coast.

We walk into the café, which looks nice and comfy. The picture on the wall states that this particular café was owned by high and mighty people, and had been in business for a while as a pub, before it got turned into a café/pub.

Before I can read who owns it, I'm pulled away by Toby, who drags me to the front desk and orders two muffins and a dog biscuit. Which apparently they sell for the dogs their customers drag in.

We sit down inside the small café, which hardly has any people in it now. It's odd to say the least. When we walked in, nearly every booth was full. But, one by one, all of them cleared out quickly, leaving only Toby and I there, still eating.

I felt uneasy about the whole thing, several people had just ordered and sat down, wanted to take pictures or something. Then, 5 minutes later, they leave without finishing their food?

I stood up, and Toby looked up at me. "What's the dealio? Eager to leave such fine company so soon?"

I shook my head, "Toby, doesn't it seem odd how so many people are already gone? Athos, come on." Athos doesn't move. He's asleep, I can hear him snoring. I snap my fingers, "Athos. Up." I commanded. I tried the same in German. In French. But still nothing.

I try to kneel down to check on my dog, but stagger and fall onto the table. I barely managed to catch myself before crashing into it. I looked at Toby, expecting him to be moving by now. But he is sliding out of his seat, eyes closed, and snoring softly.

I know something is wrong by now. I reach for Toby, to try and wake him up, but a hand closes on my arm, stopping me from checking on my friend.

I looked up slowly than I thought possible, and see a smiling face. "Easy tere, lass. Do not worry about your friends tere, mild sedatave, you understand. Tey'll be righ' as rain in a few hours. We'll put tem at their hotel, nice and tight. Bot te dog and te man. We don want to hurt em. We're jus here fer you. But don worry, I won let them hurt such a pretty thing. Me name's Angus, by the way. Ah, tere we go." I had started to fall during his little speech, and he bent down quickly to pick me up.

He's tall, with muscular arms and a kind face. He's got orange hair and bright blue eyes.

"I was wonderin when you were gonna fall. Te sedatave we gave you was a bit stronger tan teirs. Had to keep you out fer longer. But don worry bout a ting, Kiley Reid. We jus want to send a message to your friend, Trisha McCoy. See, my bosses want her land, and tey be willin to do anyting for it. I don really agree with teir methods, but," He shrugged as he carried me off, "Tey leave me family alone if I help em. What wouldn't you do fer your family, Ms. Reid?"

I know that I shouldn't be talking to Angus, but the words come out before I can stop them. "I would do anything." I murmur against his shoulder. My head starts going to the opposite side, which I know will hurt. But his large hand pushes it back to his shoulder with surprising gentleness.

"Ten you understand where I comin from? Me wee little lass, she's just 5 years old. I don want her to grow up without her daddy. You know?"

"My daddy didn't want me." I mutter, losing the battle with consciousness.

He looks down at me with surprise as he opens a door. "Really? I was given basic info about you, so I'd know where to look. You're a smart lass, and very brave. Why wouldn't he want you?"

"I was smarter than him. He didn't like it." My eyes were starting to close. But I can clearly see his sad smile.

"That's not fair. A father should be proud of his children, not throw tem away."

"Mine did. Always has. I was alone for years. Trish helped me not be so alone anymore."

He opened a car door, "Ten I'm very sorry for doing tis to you, Ms. Reid. But I'll make sure your well looked after. Someone ought to."

My eyes close as he lays me down across the car's backseats and closes the door. I fall asleep to the hum of the engine.

 **Oh no! Alright, remember that list of suspects? Who do you think it is now?**

 **ST**


	15. Angry Angels

No one's POV:

In a dark alley, a cell phone rings. And rings. Finally, the call goes dead.

There, a man lies, propped up against a brick wall, with a dog stretched across his legs. A bowler hat precariously placed on his head. Slowly, the man begins to open his eyes. He groans, tilting his head from side to side.

Finally, he gets his bearings and frowns, looking around curiously.

"How did I….?" He muses aloud. He looks down at the dog on his lap and absently runs his hand through the thick fur. "Athos? Where's Kiley?"

He sit ups, shaking the dog, "Where is Kiley? We were at the café, weren't we? Why am I here now?" The dog wakes slowly, similar to the man.

When he does wake though, he leaps to his feet, snarling. He starts sniffing the air and staggers away. The man gets up and starts to follow him. "Where is Kiley, Athos? Find Kiley."

Athos staggers forward, followed closely by a stumbling Toby. Athos staggers again, and falls to the ground.

Toby sighs and kneels down, brushing the dog's fur. "Easy boy. Guess the stuff they hit us with is still hitting you. We'll find her. But right now, I'll get us back to the hotel."

He lifts Athos into his arm and huffs. "Sheesh. What is Kiley feeding you? You weigh a ton."

With the dog in tow, Toby stumbles out of the alley and tries to find the hotel. Hoping beyond hope that Kiley will be waiting for them, safe and sound, with the others.

And if she wasn't….. There'd be hell to pay.

 _Across the sea. Abby's POV:_

I sighed as I tried to call Kiley yet again. This marked the third time that she hadn't answered her phone.

I leaned against my desk, rubbing my aching head. "We just managed to nab a perp. It was going good. Yet, the stupid trouble maker that I somehow managed to like is MIA. One more time. One more time, Abby. Then we're sending Gibbs after her."

I dialed the number again. Nothing. It went straight to voicemail.

"Hey! This is Kiley! Sorry I couldn't answer your call right now. But leave a message and I'll get back to you ASAP. See you when I see you!"

I felt like crying. First, Kiley gets shot at. Next, she doesn't answer her phone.

I raised a shaking hand and dialed a different number. "Come on, Abby. Get a grip. Kiley is probably fine. Just fell asleep or something." I looked at the clock as the phone rang. "At 7:00 am. I'm sure she's fine."

The phone stopped ringing, and a tired voice answered. "Abby? What's wrong?"

I sagged in relief. I could always count on Gibbs to answer the phone.

"Gibbs, it's Kiley. I think she's in trouble." I answered.

I heard a rustle on the other end and Gibbs voice again, this time more awake and already commanding. "Call DiNozzo and McGee. Tell them to get down there. I'll call Ziva and Ducky. We'll be right there, Abby."

The line went dead, and with blurred vision, I did as I was told.

NCIS

Exactly 20 minutes later, everyone was standing in my lab, and I was showing them the video of Kiley being chased by a gunman. I had already shown Gibbs, but the others hadn't known about it until now.

Ziva's lips were pursed, and she was twirling a knife around in her fingers. I should probably be more worried about it, but as long as she didn't hit anything, I was fine.

Tony had started pacing, eyes cold and distant.

Ducky was watching Kiley carefully, eyes analyzing and calculating.

Gibbs mouth was set in a firm line, and his eyes glinted dangerously.

McGee was angry, but confused with the whole thing.

I wrung my hands. "This happened a day ago. I talked to Kiley once since then. Right after I got the video actually. But, since then, I haven't been able to contact her. I'll call her, on her cell, on wedcam, I even emailed her. But nothing. I'm worried. Kiley _always_ picks up the phone. And if she doesn't, she calls back right away. This is **wrong** and I think she's in trouble. We have to do something, Gibbs." I turn pleading eyes towards him and he nodded, like he hadn't planned on doing anything else.

"We will, Abbs. McGee!" Gibbs barked.

McGee stood up straighter, "Yeah boss?"

"Get plane tickets for the earliest flight today. We're going to find Kiley and drag her back here. Alive." He ordered. "The rest of you, in the meantime, pack your bags. Duck, you and Abby too. You still got friends in Interpol?"

Ducky nodded. "Yes. I believe they will enjoy providing assistance in finding our wayward Rosaline."

Gibbs dipped his head towards him, "Call em. Tell them what you think would work best. Abby, print out whatever you got on the shooter. When we get there we're going to find out who he works for."

I snap forwards quickly, typing up a storm.

Tony grabs Ziva and McGee and begins to walk out of the lab. "Come on! You heard him. Move!"

Gibbs plants a quick kiss on my forehead, "We'll find her, Abbs." Before walking out with Ducky in tow.

I sigh as I wait for the printer to finish. "I know, Gibbs. I just hope before something bad happens to her."

NCIS

 _Toby's POV:_

The dog weighs a thousand pounds. I'm sure of it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so hard to lug him down the sidewalk to get to the hotel. Which is surprisingly close. I thought about just leaving him there, but I found I couldn't bare the thought of putting him down. It sounded wrong.

Especially since he had led us to Kiley just yesterday night. If he did it once, maybe he could do it again.

I staggered up to the doors of the hotel and awkwardly tried to open the door without dropping Athos.

Before I could get far in my very poor attempt, I heard someone shout, "I can get that for you!"

A red haired girl appeared in my line of vision.

She smiled tiredly at me, then smoothed her curly hair out. "Uh, there you go. Oh!" She pauses and looks at me, "I don't suppose you've seen a friend of mine? She hasn't come back yet, or answered her cell, and I'm a bit worried. She could find trouble in an empty room, you know? Uh, anyway, she's about, uh, yay big, long brown hair, pale skin, skinny as a beanpole, and has got big brown eyes that remind you of a puppy. Her name is Kiley Reid. She should have her dog, uh, Athos….." She looks at the dog in my arm when he wags his tail at her.

"Athos…..? Why do you have….. Athos?" She is clearly puzzled. But that confusion turns to rage in about two seconds. "Why do you have my best friend's dog?! Where is Kiley!?"

Before I can even try to force my mouth to make a more intelligent sound than uhhhhh, I hear a shout from inside the hotel.

Someone decided to have mercy on me apparently. Walter, Cabe, and Happy are running towards us. I nearly collapse with relief.

"Toby!" Happy shouts.

Her voice sounds heavenly. Like an angel, or a goddess. Even though she looks pissed. But she's my angry goddess.

"Why haven't you answered your phone?! Dummy!" She shouts as she gets closer.

"Where's Kiley?" Cabe barks out. I envision him with a German shepherd's tail and sharp teeth.

The red haired girl scowls at me, "That seems to be the question of the hour! Where is my friend?! And why do you have her dog?!"

She suddenly jerks Athos out of my hands, and I contemplate punching her, but find I really don't have the energy.

"We were at a café. Drugged food. Kiley figured out. I passed out. Woke up with Athos in an alley. No clue where Kiley is." I mentally congratulated myself for stringing together words to half-way make sense.

I stagger and almost fall from exhaustion. But there is my angry angel, putting her arm around my waist and catching my arm, preventing me from falling. "You are the prettiest thing I've ever seen." I murmur into her hair.

She pinches me for that and mutters, "Shut up, Toby." But I can see her red cheeks.

"You're wish is my command, angel." I reply sleepily. "Can I go to sleep now?"

She smacks me, "No. Where was the café?"

I think about it, then tell her.

The red head scowls at me, "And that was the last place you saw Kiley?" At my nod she growls, "That idiotic moron! I told her to not get into trouble! Promised her brother I'd keep her out of it! That's it, I'm getting her a leash or something. I'm going to tell my aunt to shove it and bringing Kiley with me for the remainder of the trip. Why did you let her get taken!?"

I held up a lazy hand, "Easy there, tiger. I didn't think anything was wrong with the food. It all taste different from American food. How was I supposed to know it had been drugged?"

She still snarls at me. "Fine! But, all of you are going to help me get her back!" She hefts Athos onto her shoulder with one hand and jabs a finger into Walter's chest. "She said you were a genius. Figure out who took her and then I'm going to kick someone's ass! You get to pick whose!"

Walter nods distractedly. It looks like he's already got a plan forming.

"Alright. Let's get inside and try to track her phone first off. We also need to make sure that neither Athos nor Toby were harmed by the chemical input to their systems. Paige and Sly can help with both. Come on."

With that, he turns back into the hotel and we follow behind him.


	16. Meeting the Uncle

Kiley's POV:

The first thing I'm aware of is someone playing with my hair. They're running their fingers through it soothingly, and it feels really good. It must be Spencer. I can almost smell the paper of whatever book he's reading. If I focus, I can hear the birds from outside, and the occasional flick of paper as he turns a page. But, there's an issue. Spencer never reads that slow. Ever. He'd finish a Tolkien book in an hour. He has before, and that was him trying to go slow.

And, with that knowledge, I know that I am not with my older brother. I'm not with Trish either, she doesn't read much.

Wait. Trish….. Oh! I'm in Ireland, aren't I? Am I with Walter? He wouldn't let me sleep on his lap. And the fingers carding through my hair are definitely not a females that I know. They're too callused, a workman's hands.

I inwardly sigh. And I was so comfortable too. Why does my brain have to do these things to me that are probably necessary for my survival? Can't it just shut up and let me sleep?

I'm never that lucky. Right?

Slowly, I force my eyes open. The first thing that greets me is the bottom of a very well worn book. The second thing is that I'm surrounded by stone, and iron bars. Perfect, I think I'm in a cell of some kind.

Third, I'm resting in a very scraggly looking man's lap. He has shaggy black hair, an uneven black beard, pale skin, and intelligent blue eyes. He has a well built physique from what I can see, and long fingers are curled around the spine of the book.

He isn't paying attention to me, instead captivated by the book in his hand. His fingers still feel wonderful, and, though I can feel a slight headache, he's chasing the pain away.

I feel like I should move, but I can't seem to push my body into motion. I can feel everything, so I know that I'm not paralyzed. I just am too tired to actually move much.

I groan, this is frustrating!

The noise I make is enough to draw the man's attention to me. When he locks eyes with me, he smiles warmly at me. He had to be in his early 40's or late 30's.

He puts his book down on the cold concrete that I'm suddenly VERY aware of and runs both hands through my hair.

"Ah. Awake at last then?" His accent is pleasant, and sounds like a mix between Irish and British.

I swallow hard, trying to make my mouth cooperate. "Where am I?" I ask. Well done, Kiley! You've managed to make sense! I hate sedatives.

His smile turned somewhat bitter, "Ah. That is the problem. I believe you and I are in the basement of my little brother's house. Granted, however, it seems to have been taken over by his awful wife. Ghastly woman, you must understand."

"Who is that, exactly? And who are you?" I croak out.

He lightly taps my skull, which in someway, feels kind of good. "Well, my little brother's name is Arlo. My sister-in-law is Genevieve. Such a pretty name, really, for such a horrible woman. My name, however, is Fernandez McCoy. I'd tip my hat to you if I had one, mademoiselle."

That name sounds familiar. When it clicks, I groan louder than before. I'm an idiot. A massive moron. Although, in my defense, how was I supposed to know that Trish's evil aunt and uncle were behind the whole freaking thing from a DESCRIPTION. I'm not a miracle worker.

Fernandez looks down at me in alarm. "My word, are you alright?"

I shook my head, "No." I moan. "I'm an idiot. A moron."

He covers my mouth with an amused expression. "And why on Earth is that so?"

I glare at him half-heartedly. "Do you know a Trisha McCoy."

He eyes light up, "I do, in fact. She's my darling little niece. I adored that girl. Why?"

I sighed, "Because I'm her friend who she drug along to Ireland from America to help her with 'family matters' which just happens to be her psycho aunt and uncle. And you, my fine friend, have been greatly missed by your niece."

His mouth opened and closed several times before his expression hardened. "So that's what their game is."

I furrowed my brow, "What? Sorry, I'm not following your muttering."

He looked down at me, his finger stilling. "My elder sister has made it clear that she wants nothing to do with this company. Therefore, it would either fall to me, being second oldest, or to Trisha, being the only child of the eldest. I am here, kidnapped by my own sibling and his crazy wife, therefore, the company would fall to Trisha. Now, if she is anything like her mother, she won't just hand the company over to the greed of my sister-in-law. So, they bring her here, and, because her mother didn't like traveling alone I'm going to assume Trisha is the same, she brought a friend with her. Someone near to her heart. Someone she'd be willing to do anything for. Am I correct so far?"

My heart beat faster. "I'm being used as leverage. If Trish doesn't hand the company over, they'll use me to make her." I felt sick. Why would family do this? It was insane!

Fernandez nodded, "Yes. Which means, we need to get out of here. If not for our own safety, for Trisha's, and for all the good, honest people that work at the company." He sighed and looked around, carding his fingers through my hair again. "Unfortunately, however, I've been trying to accomplish that for a year with no success."

I choked, "You've been here a year!? That's insane!"

He smiled grimly at me, "Yes. But my sister-in-law is nothing if not cruel."

I bit my lip and thought madly. Toby should be awake by now if they gave him a lighter dose than me, which is what Angus said, so he would have made it back to the hotel by now and told everyone what had happened. Hopefully he had Athos with him.

Also, knowing Abby, she'd want to check up on me daily, if not more, so she would know by now that I'm not answering my phone, which I don't even know where it is at this point, and would have told Gibbs, and hopefully the rest of the team too. And, knowing Gibbs, he would come to Ireland himself to try and see what was happening. Ziva would undoubtedly come with him, and Tony too. So, that's at least one team and three people looking for me soon.

And Trish would figure out soon enough that I am not okay. I do have a reputation of being able to find trouble in an empty room after all.

So I'd have to wait 24 hours tops before the cavalry came after me. I was not going to make the very foolish mistake of underestimating Abby's sleuthing skills. Combine her with Sly and Walter? I'd be fine. The only problem was, I was not going to wait here like a damsel in distress. Fernandez had already been here a year, I was not going to make him wait any longer to get out.

With determination, I leapt to my feet, surprising Fernandez at my sudden movement. "I don't see what causing a ruckus will do for you." He noted sourly as he got to his feet slower than me.

I threw him a grin and stretched, "Oh, my friend, I'm adept at causing trouble. By the way, my name is Kiley Reid. Pleasure is all mine."

With that, I looked around the wide cell we were in. There was a section cut off on the opposite side that was probably where a bathroom was, small though it may be. I resolutely decided I was not going to use it.

There was a small window near us that allowed meager sunlight to filter through, there wasn't much room to squeeze out, but I didn't see bars on it either. So, if worst came to worst, I could probably managed to get out that way. Fernandez might be able to with a bit of difficulty as well, but that might take too much time.

However, the solid iron bars that stretched along one wall weren't going to move easily. And without anything on me, it might not be a good idea to try and pick the lock. Then again, perhaps a pen knife would do it?

I bent over and stuck my hands into my boots, grinning with satisfaction as my fingers hit the knives and the pens. Do people never check the obvious places? Or did they just not expect a girl to have weapons?

Either way, their mistake. One I was definitely going to take advantage of. They undoubtedly weren't going to play fair. So, nor was I.

I took out a pen knife and flipped it once or twice. I looked at the iron bars nailed to the floor, there wasn't a slot to put food through. I looked at Fernandez, "So, how do they get food to us?"

He looked confused, "They open the door. But we have to be on the opposite wall so we can't hit them."

I grinned wickedly and he groaned. "Why do I not like that look?"

I gave my best villain laugh, "Your niece says that a lot. My friends have learned to just go with my harebrained schemes. Don't worry, Fernandez. Even if my scheme doesn't work, my friends are undoubtedly looking for me by now. And Trish too." I gave him a thin look of smug satisfaction, "Your niece will probably want to drag me back by my ear. To be completely honest, I'm more afraid of her than I am of our captors. And that gives me an edge. They expect me to be afraid, and more willing to go along with whatever they say. They do not, however, know that this is the third kidnapping I've had this year." I sighed and shook my head, "A disappointment to my pride I will admit. However, I know how violent people can get. I've been worked through more than just basic self defense. I've gotten hurt, severally. And, I've got about zero self-preservation skills. I'm willing to do a lot to get what I want, and am crazy enough to pull it off. So, the only question I have for you is this. Are you prepared for a lot of running?"

He paused, before the same light that Trish got when I challenged her entered his eye. He grinned maniacally back at me, "You know, I approve of my nieces choice of friends. You may just be more insane than me."

I grin as I flipped the pen, "I certainly hope so. Or this probably wouldn't work."


	17. Clash of the Titans

No one's POV:

Walter had started to pace as Sly tried to find out where Kiley had gone.

Happy was in charge of making sure Toby didn't get up after he face planted on the coffee table and nearly knocked himself out again. Now he sat on the couch with a bag of ice held to his face, sulking because Happy was being the equivalent of a guard dog.

Speaking of dog, Trisha had sat down on the other chair with Athos in her lap. She had buried her face into his fur, trying not to show how scared she was that Kiley was missing. Trying to keep confident that they would find Kiley, safe and sound.

Paige was standing to one side with her arms crossed and fidgeting nervously.

Cabe was scowling so fiercely at the wall that it should have burst into flames by now.

All of them were trying to be patient as Sly looked down every avenue he could think of, but they weren't doing very well.

But, every single one of them was thinking of the horrible things Kiley could be going through. It had already been several hours, 8 in fact, and they still hadn't gotten anywhere. The sun had started to rise, and still nothing.

Walter and Sly had taken turns using the faster computer to try and find Kiley. They had alerted the local PD about a missing person, but they wouldn't get far either.

So, the only thing they could do was wait. Wait and hope Kiley was alright.

Tony's POV:

We followed Abby through the streets of Westport, Ireland. The plane had landed half an hour ago, and we had immediately set out to find Kiley.

McGee suggested that we start looking at the last place Abby talked to Kiley, and go from there.

So now, we were in front of a hotel. All we had to do was find the room that Kiley had been in.

Easier said than done, I'm sure.

I stepped into the hotel with Gibbs in front of me. The others filed in after us; Ziva had only stopped playing with her knives because Gibbs barked out an order for her to put them away. Ducky, meanwhile, had just closed his ancient phone after talking to several of his friends in the Ireland area, who all promised to keep their eyes out for our wayward Kiley.

Oh, I was never going to let her live this one.

That's two kidnappings in one year. Eesh. I don't even have that bad a track record. I have been Tony-napped before though, so I guess that Kiley already fit into our little trouble magnet team. Every single person in it had gotten kidnapped at least once.

I flicked my gaze to each of the team. We had left Jimmy back at NCIS to keep watch with the Director, just in case something popped up that we weren't aware of.

But everyone else was here.

I stopped at McGee. Little Timmy looked like he just lost Lassie. Just as long as he didn't fall into a well, I would leave him alone. Probably. Maybe not. But hey! It's the thought that counts, right?

Gibbs leveled his stare at me, and I jumped forward. "Right boss. I'll talk to the reception desk." I chirped as I walked to the front desk.

I leaned against the counter and smiled flirtatiously at the gorgeous redhead sitting at the desk. "Hello. My name is Anthony. But for you," I winked, "You can call me Tony. Or, anything you want to."

Her blue eyes widened in surprise, before her cheeks reddened and she giggled. "Hello…. Tony. What can I help you with?"

I sighed and put on a worried mask (Which wasn't hard by any degree. Kiley was trying her damndest to give me gray hairs prematurely), "Well, you see, my little sister kind of got a little lost, and I can't find her anywhere. She's the best trouble maker I've ever seen, and I'm a bit worried." Her eyes fluttered, and she leaned forward slightly as I continued, "If you could tell me something; sorry, where are my manners? What's your name?"

"Racheal." She said a bit breathlessly.

"Racheal." I rolled the r off of my tongue, "I like that. Suits you. Anyway. Could you possible tell me if you've seen a girl with big brown eyes that are a bit puppyish, about this big, with long brown hair? She's thin, and looks like a strong wind could blow her away. A bit clumsy too."

Racheal frowned and tapped her long fingers on the desk. Then she perked up, "Oh! I have seen someone who matches that description. She had a big dog?"

I nodded.

"Oh, she was such a darling! She played such a pretty song on the piano. No one has played that thing in years. Always make sure it's tuned though, just in case someone comes along. Anyway, she came with the O'Brian party. His room is on the third floor. Uh, this is his room number." She wrote something down and slid it over to me. I really didn't blame her for being so loose lipped. It happens with most girl's come into contact with the DiNozzo charm.

I gave her my most innocent and sincere smile, "Thank you so much, Racheal. I'll be sure to ask my sister to play something for you later. Here, in case you see her come down." I slid my phone number across the counter. With one last charming smile, I nodded to her and walked off.

Toby's POV:

My head ached, but, according to Happy, that was my own fault. I just wanted to get some water! How was I to know that I was suddenly clumsier than Kiley?

Kiley. I frowned. She better be okay. Once we find her, I'm never going to let her forget that she got herself kidnapped. Then again, I got myself drugged. So we both had dirt on each other. That sounds wrong.

I groaned and shifted the ice on my face. The groan was half with pain, and half with frustration, and half with embarrassment. Wait. That would be thirds. Wouldn't it? I didn't want to do math right now.

Happy apparently didn't get my telepathic thoughts, and her fingers probed my head lightly. I jumped at the contact and she hissed, "Be still!"

I winced, "Please. Whisper. Whisper. I feel hungover." I moaned pitifully. I probably wasn't that bad off really, I had a beautiful angel taking care of me.

Happy furrowed her brow. She was really gorgeous. "Do you feel sick? If you puke on me, I'll give you a bigger concussion." She was threating me, but she was still a beautiful goddess.

I grinned loopily at her, "How could I be sick, with such a pretty girl taking care of me?"

Her cheeks reddened and she smacked my shoulder. "Shut up." She growled, but she wasn't looking me in the eyes.

I smiled at her, and shifted the ice on my head again.

That's when a horrifically loud banging erupted throughout the room. Someone was attacking the door. Why? Couldn't they just go away?

I moaned as the knocks pierced through my head like nails. Happy snarled and growled, "Somebody shut them up!" Her fingers started massaging my head again, but they didn't help this time.

Paige stepped to the door and opened it, mercifully shutting off the banging sound. "I'm sorry, but we are really busy right now-" Before she could continue with the polite dismissal, the person who had been banging on the door barged into the room.

He had gray and blackish hair, piercing blue eyes, and acted like a taller version of Cabe.

Lots of people followed after him. A man with black hair and charming grin, who was already trying to charm his way past Paige. A girl with a fierce scowl and black hair tightly kept in a braid. A man with brown hair and a boyish face who was trying to drag the charmer away from Paige. A spazzy looking girl with her black hair in pigtails. And an old man with wise blue eyes and excellent taste in hats.

The taller Cabe stomped right up to the actual Cabe and barked, "Where is Kiley Reid?!"

 **Hey guys! Sapphire here. Please review and tell me what you think! Am I doing a good job or no?**

 **Also, I apologize for the short chapters. Now that school is out, it's a bit hecktic. Once everything dies down though, I will hopefully be updated more content and at a better pace.**

 **Stay cool! It's very hot where I live. Shorts and tanktops here I come!**

 **ST**


	18. Banshee

Kiley's POV:

I sighed as I sat next to the wall. It had been hours, the sun had long since risen and begun to set, yet still, no one came. My stomach was growling pitifully, but I pushed away the pain. I wouldn't eat anything they brought anyway.

I made sure to drink plenty of water though, because once we got out, we would need to run.

I hope that I have enough strength to fight my way out.

I heard a clatter as a door opened out of my line of sight, and leapt to my feet. Fernandez looked up disinterestedly and sighed, "Finally. I was wondering if they were going to starve us." He complained loudly, but I can see the sharp glint in his eyes as he looked up at me. He stood and walked over to me, discretely whispering into my ear, "That would be the big one. He opens the door gently, the other one makes it hit the wall behind it. This one is kinder than the other one, and stays to talk sometimes."

I nod to him and step forward. The person who stepped out though, made me frown. It was Angus.

When he sees me, he smiled at me kindly, almost fatherly, and definitely sadly. He carried nothing with him but keys, and sighed as he unlocked the door. There is another man behind him, who had a cruel sneer set firmly on his face.

The door swung open, and Angus gestured to me. "Te Master o te house wishes to speak with you."

I put my chin up high, and plastered a sarcastic smirk on my face even though I'm terrified, before walking over to him.

The cruel one grabbed my arm and yanked me to his side. "Come on then, girly. Time to meet the master." He said with a sneer. I glared at him the best I could while he dragged me away.

Angus had Fernandez, and is being a lot nicer to him than sneer is being to me. That is his eternal name now, sneer. It fit him. Maybe grumpy would be better.

Grumpy drug me out the cellar (We had been caged in a freakin cellar!) door and began to march me through a hallway of what looked like an expensive stone house.

I felt like I was being marched to my own execution; it wasn't a feeling that I relished.

Fernandez even looked worried about the whole thing, and that was enough to warn me to be cautious.

We arrived at a big door, and it was forced open by Grumpy, who dragged me inside roughly. My arm really started to hurt, and there would probably be a bruise.

We entered a big common area with stuffy armchairs facing a roaring fire. The rest of the room was dark, so the fire was the only thing that eliminated the room. I could see the stars out the big glass windows, and wished I was outside. Even if thunderclouds were brewing.

I was dragged towards the fire, where more people were gathered. Grumpy threw me in front of the fire light, then roughly jerked my arm up and kicked my legs out from underneath me so I was kneeling before the two people sitting in the armchairs. Another man grabbed my other arm to prevent me from moving, and I scowled at the two people facing me.

One was a woman, she had cold blue eyes, and a type of frozen beauty. Like Khione the ice queen. I scowled at her, pissed off that this was probably Trisha's aunt.

The other was a man, he had dark green eyes and a shock of red hair. He looked a lot like Fernandez, so this was probably his little brother, and Trisha's uncle. He was antsy, and fidgety.

His wife gave him a cool scowl and he stilled. She turned her attention to me and smirked cruelly. "So, this is the rat that Trisha brought with her then? That girl never did have any sense."

I snarled at her, "Probably better than you. I mean, who kidnaps their own brother?!" I earned a sharp smack across my face for that remark. I felt my cheek tear slightly, not enough to cause blood to flood my mouth, but another hit like that and it would. I blinked away stars and fought to steady my heart. I probably shouldn't be talking to her, but when did I ever listen to intelligent thoughts in this kind of predicament?

The woman shook her head and tutted, "Such a fiery little beast, aren't you? We tried to 'kidnap' you before you ever arrived to Ireland, but our attempts were….. cut short."

I scowled, "What is that supposed to mean?"

She laughed, "Oh. And you're supposed to be intelligent. The 'mugger' as you deemed him, a week ago while you were in a park, running with your monster."

I connected the dots and felt mad at myself for not noticing it sooner. I sighed and shook my head, "If that was an 'attempt' than you are stupider than I thought you were." I barked a laugh, "And that mark was already incredibly low."

Grumpy raised his hand and backhanded me again. This time, I felt the blood well up in my mouth. The woman smiled wickedly at me, "Oh, you must feel so proud to be such an annoying thing. Just like my annoying mother-in-law. The stupid witch wouldn't have gotten sick if she had only given me her companies." Her voice was sickly sweet.

My mouth fell open. She had poisoned her own mother-in-law? Before I could express how bad that was, Fernandez appeared out of nowhere and very nearly hit the woman. He would have if not for the two burly men that grabbed him before he got close enough.

"You stupid bitch!" He roared, "That's my mother! You don't deserve anything! I'll kill you! Mark my words!" His face was red with an angry flush, and I remembered that if you ever wanted to get a rise out of someone, insult their mother. I know that if she had hurt my mother in any way, I'd be doing the same.

Trish had been so scared that her grandmother wouldn't be okay. I had seen the blind, childlike terror of hoping, yet knowing that they can't stay forever. That they'll have to leave. Trish could have her grandmother taken away too early. She'd break.

I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't.

The woman turned back to me in disinterest, "Do you have any last words before I put you back in your cage, where dogs like you belong?"

I spat the blood in my mouth at her. I was close enough that it hit her blue dress dead in the chest. I gave her a bloody grin as she squealed in outrage, "Yes. You are a stupid, idiotic, moron. And I'm sure that the banshee is closer to _you_ than you might think."

I was jerked to my feet and hauled away as she screamed at me.

Angus was staring at me pitifully, like he wanted to do something, but couldn't.

He grabbed Fernandez and fell into step beside the two guards who had me. I caught Fernandez's eye and flicked my eyes to the two men holding me. Hopefully he got it. And hopefully, he would have enough strength to fight.

I waited until we were in the hallway, alone with our three captors, before pitching my weight backwards and going limp. They staggered at the sudden weight, before scoffing and picking me up, slinging my weightless arms around their shoulders. I had a lot more proximity now, and that was their last mistake.

I surged upwards, catching both of their shoulders and yanking backwards with as much force as I could muster.

They staggered backwards as I went forward. I bent down, grabbing two knives from my boots, and flung my foot into one of their chests. As he went down, I slammed the hilt of my knife into his forehead, dazing him.

The other one had gotten his sense back and lunged at me, I waited until his fist was almost to my face before throwing one knife into the air and catching the flying fist. I threw the second knife into the air and hit the man's wrist hard enough to elict a sharp crack as it broke. Before he could cry out, I hit his jugular, hard, and all that came out was a harsh squeaking sound.

I kicked his legs out from underneath him, sending him crashing to the floor. I kicked his face, right next to his nose, and he was knocked out cold. His nose had broken, so blood flooded over his face.

I caught both knives, one after the other, and kicked the other man's face before he could get up. Blood pooled out of his maybe broken nose and I sighed, looking at both of them. I couldn't let them drown on their own blood.

I looked up at a surprised Angus, and a smug looking Fernandez. Fernandez had somehow managed to put Angus into a headlock, and his lips were starting to turn blue.

I dragged the unconscious guards up and propped them against a wall so that the blood could drain out, not in, and they hopefully wouldn't drown on blood.

I made sure my knives were back into my boot before looking at Angus. He was tapping on Fernandez's hand, and I piped up then, "Hey, Fernandez, we might need a way out of here. So strangling Angus probably won't help."

With a reluctant sigh, Fernandez nodded, "You may be right." He released Angus to the ground and I drew out another knife.

I twirled it in my fingers, "Angus. You told me that you never wanted this. Was that the truth?"

Angus gasped for air, but he nodded to me and managed to choke out, "Yes."

I smiled at him and offered him my free hand, "Well then. We need a way out of here. And you need an out to get your family away from here. So, would you be so kind as to get us outside?"

He nodded and allowed me to drag him to his feet.

Once he was up, he began to walk down the hallway, and opened up a door. He looked out, then jerked his head to us. I exchanged a look with Fernandez, he smiled at me, and, with a nod to each other, we followed Angus.


	19. Escape!

Toby's POV:

Cabe scowled, and his hand flew towards his gun. "Why the hell should I talk to you?!"

The moment his fingers brushed the gun, a knife sailed towards him and narrowly missed his fingers. The knife stuck into the wall behind him, and everyone jumped.

The knife slid out of my fingers as I leapt to my feet, I staggered drunkedly and shouted, "So not cool! Keep the knives to a minimum!"

I had shouted at the dark haired male, but it was one of the girls that answered, "Then keep the guns away from us." She said hotly, twirling a second knife in her hands.

Trisha jumped to her feet, almost knocking Athos to the ground before she replaced him on the couch. "Ziva! Put the knife away!"

That earned her the attention of all the strangers, and the light haired man stared at her in confusion. "Trisha? What are you doing here?"

Trisha scowled, and crossed her hands. "Trying to find Kiley. These people have something to do with her disappearance, because apparently she was helping them with their case and didn't tell me, so they're trying to get her back. Now, I am not afraid of any of you. So you can stop glaring at me, Gibbs. Sit down, Toby, before you hurt yourself again." She growled.

I obeyed quickly and she continued, "I'm sure with Abby's help, they can find Kiley quickly. I'm ready to kick someone's ass. I don't really care whose at this point. So, if you want to find out who can win at a fight, Ziva, we can go right now. Or," Her scowl deepened, and a wicked gleam entered her eye at the prospect of a fight, "We could put all of our energy into finding Kiley, so I can kill her for doing this _again._ So help me, I will strike the fear of God into each and every one of you, if you do not get along like good little children, sit down, shut up, and let Abby work with Sylvester and Walter to find Kiley." She glared at each of them, until they slowly complied with her reasoning.

My mouth fell open as an unhappy Happy put the ice pack back into my hand. Paige slid into the seat on one side of me, and Happy on the other side. Paige was shaking, and staring at Trisha with a new kind of respect in her eyes for being able to command the entire scary group of people who had barged inside.

When the strangers had sat down, some on the floor, the black haired girl and the brown haired man had sat down and pulled out two laptops from their bags to work with next to where Sly was, the scary lady with the knives had perched on the arm of a chair that the dark haired man occupied. The old man sat on a chair next to Trisha and began to examine Athos. And the scary almost Cabe but taller man stood, with his arms crossed, scowling at the world, and at Cabe.

Trisha waved her hands around and pointed to each one in turn, "That is Timothy McGee, Abby Sciuto, Ziva David, Anthony DiNozzo, Dr. Mallard, or Ducky, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs. They are an NCIS team that Kiley has worked with in the past. Thank you, by the way, Gibbs, for coming to look for Kiley." She told him grudgingly.

Gibbs nodded to her, "She's part of my team. Never leave a man behind."

Walter scowled, "She's 17. She can't be a part of a government agency such as NCIS."

Abby picked her head up and glared at Walter, "She told me that you offered her a spot on your team. Homeland security recruits that young?"

Walter scowled; I could see the tenseness in the air, then again, that might be the concussion. "We are a team of highly intelligent individuals. Homeland doesn't really care how old we are as long as we get the job done. Kiley is incredibly smart, loyal, trustworthy, and gets along well with all the members of my team. She would have a place with us, and 'fit in' exceptionally well." The none verbally added 'unlike with you' was clear.

Ziva stood up, a retort clearly on the tip of her tongue, but Trisha snarled scarily, "Enough! Kiley can go wherever she wants to go, whenever she wants. We are not going to have this 'battle of the teams' here and now. You will respect what Kiley chooses, _after_ we find her. So do not fight, do not try to usurp each other verbally or physically. Otherwise you will not like me very much. **_So knock it off._** "

Both people backed off from each other, and I sighed. "Well, this night is just going to be _lovely_ , isn't it?"

All that I got for my troubles was a pinch from Happy, and a fierce glare from Trisha. Forget sarcasm for a moment, this night was going to be hell.

 _Kiley's POV:_

Angus took us out a back entrance that led us to sloping moors with trees and a river visible in the distance. He pointed to a clump of trees, "Jus pas tat is te highway. I canno go wit you. I need to get to my family, and get tem out o here before te 'Master' finds out I helped you." He shifted his weight nervously.

Before I could say anything, Fernandez beat me to it and clasped Angus' arm with a friendly smile. "My friend, you have done more than enough. You have provided me companionship throughout the year I have been in this hellish place, and you tried to make my stay as pleasant as possible. You are a good man in a bad position. Go to your family now, Angus. Go and get them far away from here. Dublin, perhaps. Just away from here until we can get this whole mess sorted."

Angus nodded, clapped Fernandez on the back, then kissed my hand. "Best of luck to ye both. You should move quickly, Ms. Reid. Once tey find out what happened here, tey'll release the hounds after you. You may be able to outrun the shooters, but you canno outright the hunting hounds. Especially tese dogs. Tey've been mistreated all teir lives, Miss, and hunt humans, not animals. In te Master's race to expand er empire, she was no afraid to kill. So please, ge away from here, before the hounds are released." I nodded to him, then pushed his shoulder gently, prompting him to get away.

He vanished into the dark air, which was already getting colder and darker with the coming storm, and Fernandez turned to me. "Well, have you ever been hunted by literal dogs before?" He asked.

I shook my head, and he gave me a grim grin, "Me neither. Let's not find out what'll happen when they find us, yeah?" I nodded and he continued. "Best start running then. You a good runner?" Another nod, another smile, "Good. I was champion at running in my younger years."

I groaned good naturedly, "This isn't going to turn into 'Back in my day' is it?"

He shook his head. "No. This is going to turn into 'run or get eaten like a deer'."

I sighed, "Good point."

With a nod to each other, we took off towards the tree line as the ominous storm cloud loomed over our heads.

 _Toby's POV:_

Abby had gotten along surprisingly well with Sly, and soon they were (So they thought) getting close to Kiley. Abby had planted trackers in the hellish pens that Kiley had (Apparently goth girl had given them to Kiley), so it was just a matter of hacking into the satellite and finding out where the signal was coming from. Something that Abby had been having difficulty with until she teamed up with Walter and Sly.

I could stand up now, and was pacing stride for stride with Walter. He was making me copy his annoying habit!

With a huff, I plopped down onto the couch, and Paige gave me a slightly sympathetic glance.

I sighed and settled my gaze on the dark haired man, Tony I think. "So, Tony, how did you guys find us?" I asked.

He shot me a slightly smug grin, "Flirted with the receptionist. She was pretty, but not really my style."

I nodded knowingly, "You like girls who could kill you with one hand tied behind their back." My eyes flicked to Ziva, then to Happy, "I know how you feel, pal."

His mouth fell open as he flicked his eyes quickly to, and away from, Ziva. "Uh…. No. No. Definitely not. I like classy girls. Perferably dark haired. Maybe fighter's. But I'd still like to be the knight in shining armor once and a while."

I raised my eyebrow. Clear denial. How on earth did Kiley, the world's biggest tattle tale when it comes to matters like that (She shoved me into Happy after dinner a few nights ago. Then acted like she did nothing after I very nearly kissed Happy) not force these two together. She clearly need help.

"Sure buddy. Sure." I drawled out, before looking at Abby.

The moment my eyes landed on her though, she leapt up, crying out a victorious, "HA! Got her, Gibbs!" She crowed.

In that moment, I'd never seen anyone in my team move faster. Soon, both teams were crowded around Abby's computer.

There was a blue blip going across a grid map. Coordinates followed after it, and would give us an easier time finding her. She was moving fast though, so she was either in a slow car, on a bike, or running. Probably the last one knowing Kiley.

Gibbs nodded, smacked a quick kiss to Abby's forehead saying, "Good work, Abbs. Ziva! Tony! Get the car started. McGee, stay with Abby here. Keep us posted on Reid's position."

Trisha jumped to her feet and cried out, "I'm coming with you!" Before following Ziva out the door. Tony looked at Gibbs, before he shrugged and followed the girls.

Cabe nodded and barked, "Walter, Toby, you're with me. Happy, Paige, Sly, stay here with these two," He jerked his head towards Abby and McGee, "And make sure you're careful. Continue trying to hack into the unsubs system. Let's move it people!"

Gibbs walked out with a suddenly awake Athos at his heels, and Cabe followed behind. Walter looked me over, before jerking his head in the direction of the door. I followed him out with a wave back to the others. "We'll get the moron." I promised them, before closing the door.

 **I have no clue if people still have hunting dogs in bulk, I've seen hunts with about 4 dogs before, but \o_o/**

 **Hope you liked it anyway! Review and tell me what you think! You guys have been SUUUUUPER quiet, and you're making me curious as to the sudden silence...**

 **ST**


	20. And The Thunder Rolls

Kiley's POV:

Fernandez and I ran across the empty moor, which had begun to roar with wind. I could smell the rain getting closer to us, as if I couldn't see the massive thundercloud approaching quickly.

I could literally see a wall of water falling getting closer and closer to us.

Fernandez looked behind us, to where the storm was coming from and where we could already here the barking and howling of dogs over the wind.

"Ready to get wet?!" He yelled over the wind.

I threw my hands up, "Better than becoming chew toys!"

He nodded and pushed me forward, running faster after me. To be honest, I was impressed he was keeping up so well. A year of imprisonment didn't really build up stamina, yet he was keeping up with me perfectly fine. I was having difficulty with the speed. The wind didn't really help the whole 'need to breath for speed' thing, and had I not been running away from hunting dogs to not become a chew toy, I would have stopped a loooong time ago. I loved running. But the amount of times that I've had to run away from something this year was a bit shocking.

Though to be perfectly honest, I preferred running as fast as possible away from Spencer and Derek after pranking them rather than running away from mistreated dogs looking for a new chew toy.

I was drawn out of my thoughts by the freezing wall of rain striking me. It fell on top of us like a sheet, add that with wind and low visibility in the dark, I was having a grand time.

I shivered, wishing that I still had my jacket, but kept running as fast as I could. With dogs trained for hunting down prey in all conditions, this rain wouldn't stop them. Which meant we had to get to the trees as fast as humanly possible.

We were getting closer to it, and to the river running in front of it. Hopefully there was a bridge or something that we could get across with, I really didn't want to take another unexpected swimming trip.

But, though we were getting closer to the river, the dogs were getting closer to us. It may just be a trick of sound, but I swear one of them was right behind me based on the savage howling noise.

Lightning struck shockingly (Ha ha. I'm laughing so much) close to us, and I could taste the voltage in the air. We were soaking wet, in the middle of a lightning storm. Perfect paradise here.

I stumbled on mud and Fernandez reached behind to grab my arm and jerk me after him. He didn't let go of my arm, and instead tugged me along.

Adrenaline was pushing both of us faster, and the river was getting closer and closer to us.

When I could clearly see the rapidly flowing water, I began looking fruitlessly for a bridge.

We ran to the edge of the water and slowed to a stop. I looked around widely, there wasn't any way to the safety of the trees except through the water. Not even a bridge was in sight. Had we been on the road, we probably would have been fine. But we were nowhere close to it.

"There has to be a bridge somewhere!" I screamed over the howling of either dogs or wind.

Fernandez shook his head and shouted back, "I grew up here! I know this moor like the back of my hand! Unless they replaced the old bridge, which collapsed years ago, there isn't any way across except to swim!"

I looked behind us. If I looked really hard, I could see the running shapes of the hounds. I could hear them barking excitedly, they probably knew their prey was trapped.

"We can't swim across!" I shouted, "It's going too fast! We'd drown before we could get across!"

He grabbed my arm, "I'd rather take my chance with the river than the hounds! They won't stop! You know that! Our only chance is to try!"

"We'd get separated too easy! Both of us could die! Even if we made it, we would freeze!" I screamed, not liking any of my options and liking swimming in freezing cold weather even less.

He ripped off his jacket (why did he get to keep his) and tied one sleeve around my arm, then the other around his own. It wasn't perfect, but it might help.

He grabbed my hand tightly, "We don't have a choice! We can't keep running like this and hope to gain ground! We're already wet and freezing, what's a little more water? Don't let go! No titanic moves, alright?"

I did appreciate the try for humor. Really. But at this moment I wanted nothing more than to be by Gibbs' warm fireplace, watching old westerns, curled up in his arms and a blanket.

Before I could protest again, the hounds howls erupted from, what I would guess, 10 feet behind us based on how devastatingly loud it was.

Before I could even scream out something, probably no, Fernandez shot me a wicked grin and shouted, "Sorry!" Before he leapt into the river.

Pulling me with him.

 _Tony's POV:_

We were following Abby's instructions on Kiley's whereabouts, apparently she had been at a McCoy estate before she started moving. Something that made Trish turn white with rage, and she hadn't spoken since we learned that it was her aunt (Who she really didn't like) and her uncle's estate.

Abby was still chirping out directions when she suddenly got quiet.

"Abbs!" Gibbs barked, "Talk to me. Are we close?" Gibbs was navigating the storm that had sprung out of nowhere, and was getting more irritable by the minute.

Abby said nothing. "Abby!" Gibbs yelled.

Then her shaking voice came on. "I….. I lost the signal…."

From behind her, someone (Sounded like McGee) shouted, "That was a river! We lost her signal on a river!"

I grabbed the phone from the dash, as if I could strangle McGee if I shook the phone enough. "What?! What do you mean, McScary!?"

"Tony, I've got a map in my lap right now, following the coordinates. She vanished right on a river! With this storm she could have slipped on a mudbank and fallen in!" He yelled through the speaker.

Ziva and Trish both yelled, "She isn't dead!"

"I never said she was! Gibbs, you're near the river. You should be coming up on a bridge soon, you might not have much luck finding her in this storm-" McGee had been yelling.

But Gibbs slammed on the breaks before he could finish, sending me into the dashboard. I groaned as Gibbs barked, "How far up the river did you lose her?"

There was a scramble, then McGee said, "About 30 feet upriver. So to the left of the bridge."

Gibbs turned to look at Ziva and I, and we both got out of the car. Ziva dragged Athos with her, then slammed the door before Trish could get out.

Gibbs hit the gas and began to speed down the road again as Ziva and I ran to the side of the road and skidded down the muddy decline into a forest beyond as another car went roaring past us.

 _Toby's POV:_

Cabe had been swearing for the past 10 minutes. He cursed the storm, he cursed coming to Ireland, he cursed the people who took Kiley, he even cursed Kiley for 'getting her stupid head kidnapped' along with a few more colorful curses.

We could barely see the road because of how heavy the rain was.

We passed over a bridge and kept driving forward, Walter staring out the window thoughtfully, and Cabe cursing everything.

Soon, we came to a big house, Gibbs' car, and the door kicked in.

We had called the Ireland PD, so they should be here soon. The logical thing to do would be to wait until they got here.

Cabe was getting out of the car, drawing his gun, and Walter followed close behind him.

Well, screw logical then!


	21. Right Hook

Trisha's POV:

We had rushed into the house, combing everything and getting everyone who was still there, about 15 people, out into the open and into the living room I remember listening to my Uncle tell me stories in.

My aunt and uncle were on their knees in front of me, their hands tied in front of them with rope I found in the kitchen. The cellar had been repurposed into a jail cell, one that looked like it had been used a lot longer than the few days we'd been here.

My aunt had been cackling, saying that my Uncle Fernandez deserved it. Apparently, he had been locked up in the infernal cellar for a year. She had done everything in her power to get more money, including kill for it.

Walter had found a room full of high tech computers that they had used for their schemes. I was disgusted with the lot of it.

My uncle, a man who I used to respect, had just gone along with whatever his wife said. Pathetic really.

My aunt grinned at me, "Well, little Trishie, looking sooo proud of herself. I got what I wanted though. I took away your friend! Not to mention your uncle. But he had it coming. Your friend, she was innocent, wasn't she? Didn't even know anything better. Just came to Ireland to help you deal with your dear grannies passing. Unfortunately, I ran out of the delightful poison she was oh so eager to drink. Stupid witch."

It took every ounce of self control I had not to lunge at her. Gibbs was at my side, looking like he was having more trouble than I was.

My aunt winked at me though, "Oh, but she's fine now. However, it was a life for a life exchange I should think. After all, my hounds don't leave any of their prey alive. Your friend shouldn't have run like she did, or she'd still be alive! Even if the hounds didn't get her, they were still going in the direction of the river. Don't you remember Trishie?" Her tone was mocking, and I was shaking with the effort of holding myself back. "That river wasn't meant for people to go in during a storm. And you know as well as I do, this moor was excellent for thunderstorms. What do you think? Did she get fried with lightning? Turned into a chew toy for my hounds? Froze to death with the cold you are oh so familiar with? Or, did she drown in the river? Stupid brat, she deserved it for getting my favorite dress mucked up with her bloo-"

She didn't get to finish. The right hook delivered was swift and precise. My aunt's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed on my uncle's lap, who determinedly didn't look up.

Gibbs shook his hand out, stepping away from my aunt, and gave me a slightly impressed look. "You held yourself back." He noted.

I shrugged, "Figured Kiley wouldn't want me to get into a fight." My voice was shaking with rage though, so it kind of defeated my words. I stepped forward, and grabbed my uncle's jaw, forcing him to look up at me.

I glared at him, and gave him a sickly sweet smile. "Uncle Fernandez is and always was a better man than you. And Kiley is worth 100 of both of you. You cannot hold a candle to either. She is my sister, you worthless coward." I snarled at him, before knocking him out and looked up at Gibbs. "Then again, I've never really listened to the Jimmny Cricket that is Kiley anyway."

He smirked at me.

 _Toby's POV:_

I never, ever want to piss of Kiley's friends. They are extremely scary. Trisha is scarier than any other person I've ever faced, and Cabe was already scary; now a taller, stronger version of him with a better poker face? No way, no how was I ever getting on his bad side. Or his team's bad side.

I will say this, if Kiley chooses NCIS, she will be well taken care of.

And who says we have to vanish? She'll definitely be getting calls, a lot. No need for us to bow out gracefully if she does pick NCIS, and I don't plan on it either.

We just gotta find Kiley first.

 _Tony's POV:_

We staggered through the muddy forest, listening to the roaring of the river next to us.

Ziva broke through the tree line and got next to the river. I'm not old, and I will deny it till the day I die, that said, Ziva was trying to give a guy heart problems.

She walked alongside the edge of the river, and I quickly joined her with my hand straying near her arm, just in case she slipped. She gave me a flat look but didn't stop me.

We went along the edge like this for a few yards, keeping an eye out for Kiley.

Suddenly, Ziva stopped, and pointed to something up the river bank. "Look! Someone's there!"

Athos began barking as the figure floated closer, dipping and bobbing in the water, trying desperately to keep afloat. It wasn't a girl. Instead, it looked like a man. Then again, I could barely see with the dark and the rain.

Then lightning struck the moor, illuminating the river like a flashlight, and giving us a perfect view of a man, holding someone up.

Athos dived into the water as the light faded away and swam towards the figure. A yelp echoed in the air, and the man was trying to get Athos to go away. I cupped my hands over my mouth and shouted, "We're trying to help you! Let him help!"

Ziva was getting closer to the edge, and she shouted at me, throwing me her phone and her gun, "Stay here!" Before leaping into the raging torrent.

She got to the man and to the figure, then, with the help of Athos, managed to drag them towards the bank.

I fell to my knees, not caring if my nice pants got muddy, I was already soaked to the bone.

I reached out to Ziva and the two figures. She shoved the man into my waiting hands and I hauled him over the edge. He curled up on the bank, shivering and coughing. Ziva crawled up the bank, dragging the dog and the other person with her.

When she got up, I sucked in a breath at seeing Kiley in her arms. From what I could see, she was shivering violently, and her face was paler than it should have been. There was also a sizable bump on the side of her head.

I stood up and took Kiley out of Ziva's arms. She was breathing, if a bit laboriously, so I picked her up and slung her over my shoulders in a fireman's carry.

Ziva stood up and picked the man up, and together we stumbled through the forest in the direction of the highway.

NCIS

We stumbled onto the highway and Ziva pulled out her phone, dialing someone. She shouted, "We have Kiley! We are on the road now, near the bridge. We also have an unidentified man with us."

The man groaned and murmured something that I couldn't hear and Ziva shushed him lightly. She nodded, then ended the call. "They are coming." She informed me, readjusting her grip on the man's arm slung over her shoulder.

We waited in the freezing cold weather as Gibbs came to get us. Soon, a car appeared in the darkness, pulling up beside us.

I opened the back door, allowing Athos to leap inside. Ziva stuffed the man into the far back seat before getting in after him. I handed Kiley to a waiting Trish, then jumped into the front seat.

The moment the door closed, Gibbs hit the gas and we zoomed down the road.

Trish had taken off her jacket and wrapped it around Kiley, murmuring lightly.

I allowed myself to breath. Kiley was with us, and she'd be fine.


	22. Homeward Bound

Kiley's POV:

When I became aware (Fully aware mind you. I was vaguely aware of being carried out of the raging waters) of my surroundings, I realized I was lying in someone's lap. They were dabbing my forehead gently, but the gentle probes hurt, and I fought back a wince.

I remember the freezing shock of water engulfing me, Fernandez shouting something, then a rock was the last thing I saw. It must have hit my head.

I quickly ran through the ABC's. …. I? F n no P the and…. Z? Okay, small concussion.

What was my name? Kiley Rosaline…. Reid. My brother's name. Uh…. Steve? Spencer! Spencer Reid. My friend's name, the one I came with to Ireland. Uh… Trisha McCoy.

Okay, minor concussion, major headache coming, in shock, and if the cold everywhere said anything, hypothermia. As well as bruises everywhere and the ringing in my ears.

I began to listen to the conversation.

"Is she okay?" A voice my brain supplied as Tony's asked. So the NCIS team did come. That thought made me feel warm.

"I think so." An uncertain Trish answered. Her voice was much louder than Tony's, so she must be next to me. "What about Uncle Fernandez?" Trish asked someone.

A groggy voice answered, "He can answer for himself. I am well, love. A bit waterlogged, but well. And what of the idiotic girl in your lap? Is she waking?"

"M not an idiot." I murmured.

I heard silence reign in the car, before Gibbs voice cut through the ringing in my ears. "Bout time you woke up, kid." I could hear the warmth in his tone, and he smiled at me in my mind's eye.

I grinned, "Sorry to keep you waiting, old man. Just needed some beauty rest, you know?"

I heard a sniff, then Trish, whose voice sounded suspiciously tight, said, "You will be sleeping for centuries then if you're trying to achieve that."

I hummed, then shifted slightly to alleviate the pain in my head before saying, "Then wake me up in a century. Gotta impress people before I punch them in the face."

I heard Ziva laugh, then her hand (I'm assuming) grabbed mine and she replied, "I have no doubt you are fully capable. However, open your eyes and try to stay awake."

I sighed dramatically, "I know. I've got a concussion. So I really shouldn't be sleeping, but it sounds so good right now."

Trish pinched my arm and I snapped my eyes open to glare at her. "Meanie." I frowned up at Trish in the dark light. We were in a car, and I was still soaking wet.

She grinned down at me, her teeth shockingly white in the near black backdrop. "There's those brown eyes I wanted to see."

I rolled my eyes and she laughed, bending down and kissing my forehead. "Please don't ever leave." She whispered, "Sorellina, I wouldn't be the same if you left. Please don't. And don't ever change. Keep being the moron who finds trouble in an empty room, keep being the idiot who is a total night owl, but a terrible morning person, keep being the idiotic moron who manages to make friends wherever she goes, keep being the wonderfully smart idiot that learns anything she wants, and knows so many different languages. Please, just…. Just keep getting out of trouble before it kills you. I know that you won't ever stop getting into trouble, I have no hope that you will ever be able to stop sticking your neck out to help someone, just promise me you'll get out of it, every time. Okay? Please."

I smiled up at her, "I promise. However, I might need a bit of help once and while."

Tony turned back to look at me from the front seat, "Good thing you got us then, right?" He grinned at me before turning back around.

I nodded with a small smile, "Good thing indeed." I mused.

NCIS

The next few days were honestly a blur; I was admitted to the hospital for hypothermia, suspected pneumonia, and a major concussion that they needed to keep an eye on.

For the most part, it was okay. I still hated hospitals, and I still hated being confined to bed rest, but my friends visited once they got all the arrest things over with. Apparently, both Trisha and _Gibbs_ had hit Trisha's aunt and uncle hard enough to give them concussion. Her aunt even had a cracked cheekbone, and Trisha's uncle had dislocated jaw.

I never really wanted to get between those two enough that they wanted to hit something.

Ever.

Trisha's family had also come to visit me, apologizing for their relatives, even her grandmother. Who, after I called her ma'am, snapped, 'Trish sees you as a sister, so, call me accordingly.' I had been confused (I blame medication), but quickly realized that she wanted me to call her gran, which I did, very, very clumsily. My grandmother died before I was born, so I've never called anyone Gran or Grandmother.

Plus, since Fernandez (Who was insisting I call him uncle. It seems I got adopted during my short stay in Ireland) was back, Trish gleefully handed the company rights to him. But, Fernandez had winked at me and whispered, "I'm planning on opening a branch in America that Trish can oversee." Then he vanished, and I haven't seen him since.

I was booted out of the hospital shortly after that. Whether the nurses got tired of me or because I was better I didn't really know.

Now I'm walking out of Trisha's house with Gibbs, who is dragging me back to DC with him since A) I clearly cannot be trusted to go anywhere without a babysitter, let alone overseas. And B) Spencer is still in Texas, and is very mad at me for finding trouble, again. I'm still waiting for a video message from Garcia and Morgan.

I've said my goodbye's to everyone, including a temporary goodbye to Trisha (She came down here for a family vacation, so she's staying here for another two months. We have only been here a week. That has to be a new record for me, staying in one place for a few days and find trouble), and to the Scorpion team.

That was an interesting conversation.

 _Flashback:_

Toby sighed, "Are you absolutely positive you won't come back with us? I'm wounded. You could have a spot in the team right now! Just bada bing and you're there! Solving crimes with us! And I never got to pull an epic prank with you!"

I smiled at him and gave him a hug, "Sorry, Toby. But I think I'll stick with the NCIS team. And besides, I can still take a vacation trip to Cali to see you guys, nothing is really stopping me at this point. It'd be nice to see where you guys operate."

He pulled away from me and waved his finger in front of my nose, "I'm holding you to that. If you don't, I'll go to DC and drag you back with me. Got it?"

I nodded with a smirk, "Got it."

He stepped away, and was replaced by Paige. She wrapped her arms around me in a warm embrace, "Please come and visit us. I know that Ralph would love to meet you, you're closer to his age then all of us, he'd like to brainstorm with you."

I grinned at her, "Ok, Paige. I'll take your word for it. I'll have to meet him someday."

"Soon?" She asked.

"Hopefully." I replied with a nod.

She stepped away, and was replaced by Happy. Instead of hugging me, she punched me in the arm. I yelled and clutched at it ruefully, "What was that for?"

She scowled at me, "For being an idiot." She punched me again, harder this time, "And that is for the future times you'll be an idiot."

I rolled my eyes, "Thank you for your shocking amount of confidence." I drawled sarcastically.

Then she lunged forward, and I half expected her to tackle me. Instead, her arms wrapped around my waist and she gave me a brief hug before stepping back and looked away, "And that was for saving me. And for not dying."

I punched her arm, "I'm getting very good at that."

She scowled up at me, before smiling and stalking over to Toby and stealing his hat.

I ignored his cries as Sly came up and held out his hand shyly to me. "Uh…. It… It was nice to meet you." He pushed out.

I smiled at him and took his hand in a firm handshake. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Sly. You're a great friend, and I'll miss you. Promise to take care of the others for me?"

He smiled at me, "Yeah. I promise."

I leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good. I'll hold you to that promise."

I left him standing there, staring after me in shock with his hand on his cheek, and shook Cabe's hand. "Take care of yourself kid." He growled.

I laughed and jerked my thumb towards a waiting Gibbs who was leaning against a car, "I've got him to try and help me. So I think I'll be fine."

Cabe gave a slight nod to Gibbs, before turning back to me. "See ya soon, kid."

I gave him a salute, "Sure thing, old man."

He huffed and rolled his eyes at me before walking away and barking at Happy and Toby for being children.

I stepped up to Walter, and he looked stiffly at me. I smiled at him and said, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Walter. And I enjoyed working with you."

He nodded stiffly, "Yes. It was….. Interesting." He hesitated, before continuing, "Are you sure you don't want to come back to California with us? You'd have an automatic position in my team."

I smiled at him, then looked back at Gibbs, who seemed to be able to hear us perfectly despite being a good distance away. He leveled his icy blue eyes at me, and I nodded before turning back to Walter.

"I'm sure. I think I'll stick with D.C. But, if I ever change my mind…"

"You'll come straight to us." He finished for me.

I laughed and nodded, "Yes. I'll go straight to California and demand to be on your team."

He nodded sagely. "Very well. Gibbs and his team seem efficient at tracking you down and taking care of you, so you should be fine. Barring, of course, you actually use your intelligence and not get into trouble deliberately."

I whistled lowly, "That's a hard thing to ask there, Walter." He narrowed his eyes at me and I threw up my hands, "But I'll try."

He nodded again, then held out his hand. I rolled my eyes and batted his hand away, instead stepping forward and wrapping my arms around his waist.

He froze for a few seconds, but I resolutely held on until he returned the hug, if stiffly.

I pulled away from him and beamed, before pecking his cheek and saying, "Goodbye, Walter. I'll see you sometime later."

I turned and walked to Gibbs, waving at the Scorpion team as I left. Gibbs opened the door for me, and I let him, already having learned that it wouldn't do me any good to argue with him. As I got my seatbelt buckled, Athos licked my cheek and looked out the window. I followed his gaze and saw Cabe and Gibbs in a silent staring match.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Gibbs dipped his head in what seemed like a silent vow, and turned away from Cabe.

When he got behind the wheel, I raised an eyebrow at him, "Do I want to know what you guys just telepathically said to each other?"

His lip quirked up slightly and I sighed, facing forward, "Yeah, I thought you'd do that."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk at the road.

 _Flashback end_

Now I was in the car with Tony, Ziva, Athos, and Gibbs, on our way to the airport. Tony and Ziva were fighting about something, I think music. Tony wanted romance music, while Ziva wanted to listen to pop music. They had brought CD's with them, and were trying to figure out what to listen to on the way.

It was welcome noise. Until, that is, Gibbs jerked a disc out of Tony's hand and threw it into my lap with a silent glare. Without a word, I took out a CD of old country music and put it into the radio.

The sound of Willie Nelson filled the car, and Tony and Ziva's chatter died down instantly.

I smirked at we drove on.


	23. Epilogue

I stayed at Gibbs house, which was beginning to feel like a home away from home, for three weeks. In that time, I become a bit of an unpaid intern. I would go to work with Gibbs every morning, and we'd stop to get coffee and Abby's Caff-pow. Then in the evenings, I would either spar with Ziva, or play COD with McGee. Of course, Tony was also trying to teach me how to woe people. Or how to use my looks to charm people.

I'm not sure if it was working or not. But, Gibbs had started to take me to the shooting range more often.

Ducky had also tried to play his Piano with me as often as possible, he'd even lent me his cello during my stay. The cello was a bit more difficult to control than the violin, but I managed to get better under Ducky's gentle tutelage.

But now, I was home. Spencer and the rest of the team had gotten back from Texas yesterday, so now it was time for my judgment day.

They were at the office, doing reports, so I dropped Athos off at the house, and caught a bus to the BAU office.

The guard at the door waved me in, having known I was Spencer's little sister, and having seen my little entry pass card more than enough times to really bother with checking to see if the me was really the real me.

That was a mouthful and a half.

I stalled outside of the elevator, before sucking a breath and stepping into it, punching the correct number.

I wasn't sure if my heart was racing just because, or if it was racing because I was a little bit worried how Hotch was going to react. Spencer had already chewed me out over the phone for being a hopeless idiot who should have told him I was working with Homeland Security.

I took a deep breath as I stepped off of the elevator, then walked forward into their office section before I could change my mind and run back to D.C. with my tail between my legs.

I walked into the office, and everyone froze, staring at me.

Morgan was sitting on the corner of Spencer's desk, with a pen in his hand that was an inch from Spencer's face.

JJ was leaning against Prentiss' desk, probably chatting with her.

Emily's head was propped up on her fist, and she stared at me with an unreadable expression.

Garcia had been spinning in Morgan's desk chair, but she now just stared up at me.

I coughed, feeling heat rise up my neck at the stares.

"Uh. Hi?" I tried stiffly.

The first person to me was unsurprisingly Morgan. He grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me so hard my teeth rattled, then wrapped his arms around me and yanked me to his chest in a tight hug. All the while saying. "You are _not_ the big of an idiot, Indie. You shoulda known better! At least tell us what psycho plan you hatch before trying it out! We coulda helped or something! You are in so much trouble! Pretty Boy said I got to decide which punishment this time."

I glared at Spencer over Morgan's shoulder, but he just smirked at me, before shrugging his shoulders as if to say, 'I got tired of thinking up something'.

Morgan held me at arm's lengths, looked me up and down, then got close to my face without letting go of me. I leaned back as much as I could, but he kept leaning forward with his eyes narrowed. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head rapidly. "I took a dip in a river and got a concussion, but I'm fine now! That was three weeks ago. Complete healed." I squeaked.

He nodded, looked me up and down once more, then stepped back and let Garcia glomp me.

"I'm so glad you're safe! I was so worried when my Junior G told us what happened! I wanted so bad to call you but I thought it'd be better to yell at you in person. But now that I'm with you I can't yell at my little sweetie pie!" I'm sure she didn't take a breath once during her speal. And now my cheeks hurt from her pinching them.

I detangled my cheeks from Garcia's hands and turned. Straight into Prentiss and JJ. Both of whom were glaring at me with their arms crossed.

"Uh…." I said intelligently.

Prentiss narrowed her eyes at me, "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head.

JJ raised an eyebrow, "Did you complete the case?"

I nodded.

Prentiss leaned forward, "Kick some ass?"

I nodded.

Both of them looked at each other, then cracked matching smiles.

JJ hugged me, "Glad you're alright."

Prentiss pinched my arm, then ruffled my hair. "Try not to give your brother any more heart attacks please. He's had too many this year, and all of them started with you."

I frowned, huffing in a mock moody manner, "It's not like I want to give him heart problems." I whined childishly.

Prentiss smirked and ruffled my hair again.

Then she looked over my shoulder and she and JJ quickly stepped away from me. As did everyone else.

I gulped, already knowing Hotch was behind me with his death glare already in place.

I turned very, very slowly, and came face to face with not only a death glare Hotch, but a glowering Rossi.

I'm toast.

Hotch narrowed his death glare, heightening the destructive powers, and asked in a very low, deathly calm, scary voice, "Why didn't you tell us you were working with Homeland Security?"

Before I could even try to think of an answer I didn't have, Rossi stepped forward. "What possessed you to think that getting involved with another agency's case, in another country that didn't involve you in the slightest, was a good idea?" He asked, in the same tone Hotch was using.

I gulped, shrinking backwards as the two seemed to grow taller.

"You are 17 years old. You shouldn't be involved in this to begin with, let alone willingly joining an investigation in a foreign country without a single person you know watching your 6." Hotch ground out.

I opened my mouth, but couldn't think of anything.

Rossi raised a threatening eyebrow at me. "You knew nothing of that country, not the layout, not the people, not the culture, not even the language, and you expected it would just fly with us? Think again, kid."

"Um." I began, but Hotch cut me off.

"Until you are 18, you will not be involved with any other case. At all. It doesn't matter what agency. Be it Homeland, NCIS, or FBI. Until you are a legal adult, you will not be risking your health for something that does not concern you. Am I clear?"

I wanted to say that it was an unfair passing. The jury needed time to rule it out and all that. But looking at the two men facing me, I realized that they did want to protect me, and maybe I was jumping into the dangerous life a little too fast.

So, I sighed, and bowed my head, muttering a quiet, "Yes sir."

I almost flinched when a hand landed on my shoulder. I looked up to see Hotch staring at me with an unblinking gaze. "Good. 7:00 tonight. My house. Don't be late. Jack wants to meet you before you kill yourself."

Then he turned and walked back up the stairs to his office.

I drew in a shaky breath, knowing I just got let off from the hangman's noose. But I wasn't completely off the gallows yet.

I turned to Rossi, and he tilted his head, examining me. "Hmm. I believe the last time we had a cooking lesson was last month. Tomorrow night. 8:00 on the dot. I'll attempt to teach you how to make decent fettuccini, again."

I opened my mouth, about to tell him why that was a very bad idea considering that last time he tried, I nearly set fire to his bushy eyebrows, and I have no clue how.

But, he silenced me with a raised eyebrow. So I nodded, and he turned and walked gracefully up the stairs.

I turned back around to the smirking faces of the others. Spencer shrugged when I looked at him for comfort, "You got off easy. Besides, you do need to calm down with the agency's. You'll give them whiplash." He remarked dryly.

Morgan grinned at me though, "This weekend, after your dinner with the two devils, you and me are going to a game. That's your punishment. First game of the season."

Spencer shook his head, but began writing his reports again.

I dipped my head, then blurted out, "My boss probably wants to know I'm alive so, bye!"

But as I walked out, Spencer called after me, "Jinhai wants me to tell you _Sh_ _ě_ _np_ _à_ _n d_ _à_ _ngti_ _ā_ _n._ "

I froze in the doorway, then turned to the nearest wall and smacked my head against it. Judgment day. And I was probably dead for not telling Jinhai something earlier.

Why is this my life?

Then again, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 **Hey guys! Another end to another story. I have an idea to run by you guys though. I've been thinking of starting another fic. Except for a different show, and without an OC character as the main one. I've been thinking either an Avengers/ Amazing SpiderMan crossover or a Muskteers fic. Would that be something you would want to see? Or do you want me to continue on with this series? Please do tell me.**

 **Also, please tell me if you enjoyed this story or not, I know I enjoyed writing it.**

 **ST**


	24. Bonus: New Year's Eve

"Aunty Ki! Aunty Ki!" A shrill voice screamed. "Save me!"

I turned the corner of Rossi's house to see the four year old dangling upside down from Morgan's arms. Morgan was tickling the blonde haired boy with maniacal glee, and laughing nearly as hard as Henry was.

I put one hand on my hip and tapped my chin. "Now, do I really want to?" I asked myself aloud.

Henry reached for me with a bright smile on his face, shouting, "Yes!"

I sighed dramatically, before lunging forward and detangling Henry quickly from Morgan's arms and cradled him close to my chest. I looked down at Henry's bright blue eyes and asked, "What am I supposed to do now?"

Morgan slowly reached his hands forward, a glint of amusement in his eyes, and Henry screamed, "Run!"

I nodded, "I concur." Then I turned and sprinted through the house shouting, "Mama J! Mama J! Help!" With Morgan running behind us screaming, "I'm gonna get both of you now!"

We burst into the living room, where the rest of the company was. All the adults in the room looked at us curiously, before smiling. Jack, however, jumped forward, away from his father's side, and shouted, "I'll save you!"

He jumped onto Morgan, and scrambled up his body until he was hanging off of Morgan's back. Morgan laughed in response and turned around, trying to get the spider monkey off.

I handed the still giggling Henry to a smiling Will, then jumped at Morgan too. I hit his legs with my shoulder, and Morgan crumpled into the couch, face first.

Jack crowed in triumph and gave Morgan a clumsy noogie.

Morgan twisted around on the couch and held up his hands in surrender. "I yield!" He shouted dramatically. He poked Jack's chest, "To you!"

Then he threw Jack onto the couch cushions and jumped into the air before lunging at me. I squeaked and tried to take off, only to face plant onto the carpet a few seconds later with Morgan sitting on top of me.

"Ha! You stole two chances to get both little terrors. You shall pay!" He cried out, and began to tickle my sides.

I laughed and tried to squirm away from him, shouting out, "Help!"

I saw my brother sigh dramatically, before throwing himself onto Morgan's back and taking them both down. On top of me.

So now, I was no longer being tickled, I was being squashed.

I groaned and said, "You know, when I asked for help, this is not what I had in mind."

Then I heard a click of a shutter and looked up to see Garcia holding her camera and grinning at me. "You guys are sooo cute!" She squealed gleefully.

I groaned and hid my face in my arms. I heard laughter echo around us and looked up to see Prentiss crouching in front of me. She ruffled my hair with a grin and I sighed, "So glad I could provide some New Year's entertainment."

She laughed at me and gestured to Hotch, "Hey, Aaron, help me out here, will ya?"

Hotch sighed and shook his head, but walked over to us. He and Prentiss each grabbed one of my arms, then drug me out of the small pile of bodies I was underneath while Spencer and Morgan continued to wrestle.

Once I was on my feet, and I nodded to each of them and straightened out the black shirt that Garcia forced me into. It had a glowing neon yellow star in the center, and said 'Happy New Year!' in bright glowing letters. I quite literally glowed if someone were to shut the lights off.

It was 'festive' or something.

That's why we were all at Rossi's house, his was the biggest house between the team, so it made sense to gather here on New Year's Eve.

Currently, it was 7:00, and the house smelled wonderful. Rossi and I had whipped up a few Lasagna's, and he had made a large raspberry cake that looked wonderful.

The lasagna's were still cooking, so the adults had gathered in the living room to drink wine and chat. The kids (Henry and I), along with Morgan, had started a game of hide and seek. Jack and Hotch had shown up sometime during the game, and that brought us to here.

Prentiss patted my shoulder and handed me a glass of apple juice. "Seems like whatever you had planned backfired on you." She said with a grin.

I gave her a twisted grin, "Who says it did?"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a button, similar to a car button that would lock and unlock the car, then clicked it.

The two boys, who had been wrestling, erupted a bright cloud of pink.

It wasn't glitter this time, it was powdered food dye that was used on cakes. It was, however, incredibly sticky mixed with the right stuff, and very airlight. So, when I had slipped the miniature device similar to a baking powder volcano, which would compress and send a cloud of horrible pink onto whatever it was attached to, onto Morgan's shirt, right between he and Spencer, it provided the perfect prank. I had only wanted to get Morgan for payback purposes (He had given me my Christmas gift wrapped entirely, three times all the way around, in duct tape), it branched off beautifully to Spencer. AND, because they were close together, and on hard wood floor, the clean up process of the floor that I would undoubtedly have to do, would be easy and simple. The cleaning process for their shirts and pants though, wouldn't be as simple.

There was silence, until Rossi broke it with a loud bark of laughter.

The others soon followed with that laughter, and even Morgan and Spencer grinned at each other.

I tipped the glass in my hand towards them with a wicked smirk, "Happy New Year guys."

Rossi raised his wine glass and tipped it to me, "Cheers, kid."

I shot him a grin and downed the apple juice.

 **Hey guys! A new story is up now! It's called Blood Rose. Morbid sounding I know. A summary in short is that Kiley gets to take care of Jack and Henry (Three years in the future) when their parents can't (Brilliant idea considering how much trouble Kiley gets into). However, the BAU team manages to piss of some very powerful people, and they are suddenly after Jack and Henry. So it's up to the NCIS team and Kiley to keep them safe while running from killers. Wonderful!**

 **ST**


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